


Seeing Isn't Always Believing

by Nines_Jameson



Series: Demon AU [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Demons, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Magic, Past Abuse, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:48:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27600263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nines_Jameson/pseuds/Nines_Jameson
Summary: Tommy and Tubbo are both early graduates and starting college. Tommy was given an excellent scholarship, and Tubbo's private career pays for his tuition. They're ready to set off, and enjoy college. That is until Wilbur waltzed into their lives.Wilbur, their new roommate, not only throws a wild card into their friendship, but also threatens their very safety. A human, a hunter, and a demon from the highest of their council all under the same roof is a recipe for disaster. When Tommy is caught between keeping secrets, safety, and friendship, what will he choose?This at first takes place ~6 months before 'My Secret Demon Boy'
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: Demon AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017802
Comments: 35
Kudos: 184





	1. A New Roommate? Seriously?

Tommy huffed as he plopped down on the tiny couch of their dorm that he and Tubbo shared. The two of them were good students, dare he say excellent, which is why they were already enrolled here at only 17. Well that and the fact that they were in such a nice college almost entirely free of payment owed a lot of credit to his roommate Tubbo. 

It was a silent agreement between the two of them to never tell anyone where Tubbo actually worked, how he worked, and just as Tommy couldn’t tell anyone, he wouldn’t tell anyone that worked with Tubbo that he knew more than he let on. Now all this fancy talk of whether or not you know who you know and pushing this aside Tubbo was a hunter. 

A demon hunter. 

Tommy had never been big into the supernatural before he befriended the brunette, while he wouldn’t necessarily mock you for it, he certainly had never believed it. That was until on a late night walk home after being caught out by curfew, he’d been cornered by something that still made him shudder thinking about it. He’d been confronted by a powerful being, and Tubbo had stepped in from seemingly nowhere. The man was tall, he was broad, and most importantly, he was _intimidating_. The man had cornered him, and was using his fancy rich talk trying to convince Tommy to do. . something. He frankly hadn’t paid much attention to the details after a man with blood red eyes, fancy suits, and ram horns had cornered him. Then Tubbo stepped in and talked with him, making the man back off. It was at that moment Tommy started to understand just how much power Tubbo held, even though he’d never boast that. 

But now Tommy was frustrated because the casual dynamic between him and Tubbo was going to be disrupted. The school had put them into a nicer dorm, with four bedrooms, so he supposed he never actually expected it to always just be him and Tubbs against the world, but still the letter in his hands from the principal was tearing away the safety netting his mind had put up in refusing to believe it would ever be anyone other than him and Tubbo living here. He’d been given the offending paper about a week or two ago, and he had initially thought it was a joke. A part of him still wanted it to be one. He glanced at the time and got off his seat. 

Class would start shortly so he may as well get ready while he had a chance. So he had tugged on a simple white and red shirt over his messy blond curls, and was brushing his teeth when the sound of keys in the lock caught his attention. He glanced over expecting his roommate Tubbo to walk in from some late night hunt, or maybe early morning class. 

Someone opened the door, and it **wasn’t** Tubbo

The man had rounded glasses with a thin dark metal frame that hung loosely on his face. His hair was sticking out in a messy but fashionable way from under a gray beanie he wore. He was tall, a few inches taller than Tommy. He had a phone in one hand and was texting on it as he had opened the door with his free hand. A dark red luggage bag perched slightly behind him. The boy wore a yellow turtleneck sweater, light brown khakis, and a long black overcoat that hung off him almost in a cape-like fashion. Around the neck, it hung loosely off his shoulders, and had a lot of white fur fluff of some sort. When he looked up he had piercing brown eyes that seemed deeper than any pit on Earth, and just as intense as the planet's core as he looked at Tommy. He smiled slightly and spoke. 

“Oh, sorry I didn’t expect anyone to be here at the time.” 

Tommy still had his toothbrush in his mouth, and toothpaste, so he rolled his eyes going back to the bathroom with a wave, “Whahefer.”

After a moment he had rinsed his mouth out and leaned on the doorframe, looking over the newcomer as if sizing him up. Although, inexplicably, the blond _knew_ that if a fight were to break out between them that got physical, this boy was more than capable of defending himself. He had an almost intimidating nature about him. 

“Oh great, not another one Tubbs is enough as is. I honestly didn’t think they would actually give us a roommate.” He scoffed quietly.

A quiet sound, like a disgruntled growl came from the other, as he set down his single box of luggage and leaned on it. “Nice to meet you too.”

Tommy crossed his arms as he studied the other, “So, what’s your name?” 

The boy turned a cold stare on the blond, not replying for a few heartbeats, clearly trying to play the intimidation game with Tommy, “Wilbur, and yours?”

“Tommy, best not forget that.” He huffed as he went to the couch and pulled out his own phone communicator.

Currently Tubbo was messaging him like mad, and he was tired of the frantic notifications so he figured he may as well at least check what the spam was all for. Wilbur had moved down the hall and presumably set his belongings inside one of the two remaining empty rooms when he came back and leaned on the hall wall, glaring slightly at Tommy as he adjusted his glasses. 

“And why’s that?” 

“Cause I’m not someone you should forget, that’s all.” He gave a cheeky egotistical grin at the taller boy. 

Wilbur scoffed and laughed quietly as he rolled his eyes, turning back down the hall, and he replied calmly. His tone even as if he was stating facts. 

“I am certain you are nothing. Especially when compared to people like Schlatt.”

Schlatt. He knew that name, it was a name Tubbo often mentioned, at least the name. He was supposedly the freaky thing he met on the streets several years ago, and was the ruler of hell. Or ‘Nether’ as Tubbo insisted it was called, although that didn’t have as good of a ring to it. Either way he knew Schlatt was a powerful man. Although his brain was running on dial up internet, and didn’t stop to think why Wilbur would know this name. 

“The demon guy? I’m nothing like him.” Tommy laughed as he glanced up from his phone before he even read the messages. 

For a brief moment time seemed to stand still. A low rumbling sound that was certainly a growl came from the new boy as he spun on his heels and faced Tommy. His eyes cold and narrowed, “How do you know that name?” 

_Play dumb._

“Name? What name?” He cursed himself for the slip up, but was also starting to question Wilbur, “I don’t know about any names?” 

_Damn I’m a terrible liar._

Even as he averted his eyes, he could feel Wilbur’s dark glare on his skin pricking the back of his neck, “Don’t play dumb now. How. Do. You. Know. That. name?”

Tommy turned his gaze to his phone and started sending frantic messages back to Tubbo. Since before the buzzing was just various social media notifications. He was internally praying that the other would be home shortly for backup. Heavens knew he needed it at the moment. After a minute, he answered the other. 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about buddy, how about you just unpack your shit in your room?” He kept his tone even, trying to think of a logical explanation. 

Maybe he was an associate of Tubbo’s, but then wouldn’t the brunette have told him? Maybe he was from some other hunter group, but then he probably would’ve still recognized Tubbo’s name, after all even for being young, his programming skills, and natural talent in combat had gotten him far faster in the hunter field. He knew Tubbo had left that morning for a meeting with his team, but this was more important. 

_TUbo SoS_

_New roomamte knos Schlatt_

_Help??? Is he a coworker?_

Tubbo took a few minutes to respond, and when he did, it didn’t ease his worries any more. 

_ Tommy Dude _

_ Just ended meeting, there’s rumours of a councilmen on the surface _

_ I’m panicking too. _

_ What if its Schlatt?? _

_Idk, but same here._

_We gotta figure out who tho._

Tommy glanced up and watched Wilbur walk to his room and close the door. He waited an extra moment to see if the bizarre boy left again, but when he didn’t he leapt to his feet and booked it to his own room. Tubbo was quick to reply as Tommy sighed and flopped down on his bed. 

_Our College is like a fucking hotspot for them_

_Like_

_Yeah, theres good ones like FUndy_

_But what if they come to our school???_

_What if they come after us??_

_ IDk dude _

_ What do you even do about this? _

_ Dunno, but since its our college/my assignment if it shows up, its our problem. _

_ Well mine, but you’d help me right? _

_Sure thing_

_I got your back._

He could just barely make out the sounds of footsteps, making him look up, where he saw Wilbur passing his slightly ajar door and heading back into the main room. He was shocked with how surprisingly silent the other was while walking around, even though he was certain that Wilbur had never removed his shoes. Which said shoes were an army style and logically should make some sort of noise. 

_Thanks man, I know you do_

_Hey whats the news on the roomie btw?_

_Oh him_

_Hes here already_

_Mentioned Schlatt. . ._

_You’re joking right?_

_Schlatt like the Schlatt???_

_ Yes the schlatt Tubbo _

_ What do you think I mean when I say that name?! _

_ Fuck _

_ Dude you need to leave NOW _

_ If he knows Schlatt. . . _

_ Wer’re fucked  _

_Thanks so comforting_

_Exactly what I needed to hear rn._

Tommy scoffed aloud and pulled on some shoes as he began heading to the front door. If Tubbo said to leave, that’s exactly what he was going to do. However, Wilbur was also sitting in the front room, still wearing the dark cloak like jacket that hung loosely on his frame. He was sitting on his own communicator, and without missing a beat or looking up he spoke. 

“Where are you going?” He spoke casually.

“None of your business.” He had been startled not realizing where the other was, but tried to play it off as he shoved his phone in his pocket and made a beeline for the door. 

“Tommy, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but please don’t run.” His demeanor and voice were softer now as he sighed and turned to face Tommy, standing up.

“I’m not running, just going to see my friend.” 

Wilbur was quiet for a moment, studying Tommy but made no move to stop him, “Ah, well, when you do come back I’d like to talk.”

“Sure thing pal.”

He had no intention of talking with the weirdo roommate until he got to at least explain the situation to Tubbo, and as he walked away from the dorms and onto the campus, he spotted the hunter running towards him, a bag slung over his shoulder as the cloudy sky began to leak with the occasional drop. The other skidded to a stop in front of him and audibly sighed in relief. 

“Tommy! You’re okay!” 

“Of course I’m okay,” he waved the other off, “I can take care of myself, but seriously, you’ve gotta come meet him. He’s a fucking weirdo.” 

Tubbo looked pensive for a moment before he seemed to cave in and smiled softly, “Okay then, but you weird or Skeppy weird?” 

”First off I am not weird, secondly, Skeppy weird.” 

"Do you think he’s one of _them_?” 

“One of them?” Tommy was still half running in panic and sleep deprived mode and didn't immediately register what Tubbo was asking.

“A demon, do you think he’s a demon? You are the one who said he mentioned Schlatt.”

Tommy grinned, “Even if he is, we’ve dealt with bad demons before, we’ve got this.” 

Tubbo gave an affirming nod as they went back inside the dorm. When they opened the door again, Wilbur was back to sitting on the sofa, with his phone in his hand, and he barely spared a glance up as the two of them entered. Although Tommy did note the slight stiffen from the other even if Wilbur was trying to hide it. The brunette raised an eyebrow as he looked between, so Tommy elbowed his side as a subtle prompt. 

“Go say hi.” 

Tubbo went over and held his hand out to shake, “Hey I’m Tubbo the other roommate.” 

Wilbur seemed to eye him for a long moment but never did take his outstretched hands, making this that much more awkward. 

“Wilbur.” 

Tommy sighed and grabbed Tubbo’s hand beginning to drag him to his room, “Great we’re all friends now.”

Tubbo followed, occasionally glancing back to look at Wilbur who visibly relaxed once Tubbo had left the room.But he turned to Tommy.

“He’s weird, but maybe the name was a coincidence.” 

“Yeah I know he’s weird, so what do we do?” 

“Maybe you can just talk to him? Wait - “ Tubbo hopped up as he patted his cargo shorts looking for something clearly, “Take this, so if he tries anything he won’t be able to hurt you. But you’d be better talking to him, he seemed . . .disturbed by my entrance.” 

Tommy took the medallion Tubbo was holding out for him, “I don’t wanna talk to him, he could be some big scary demon or something.”

“I’m right here, plus you’re the big strong man, Big T right?”

“Damn right!” 

With a new confidence boost, he got up and left the room heading into the main area, where he stood in front of Wilbur, refusing to let his fear now be shown to the other. Wilbur seemed to perk up slightly as he entered, but still had an air of wariness about him. 

“You still wanting to talk?” Tommy crossed his arms facing the other.


	2. Let's Talk

“Do you still want to talk?” Tommy asked as he entered the living room. 

Wilbur seemed to perk up slightly, and turned to face Tommy from his seat on the couch. The older boy scooted over on the couch, and patted the empty seat next to him as a gesture for the blond to join him. So he relented after a brief hesitation, and sat beside him. 

“Yes I do want to talk with you. Look, Tommy, I mean you no harm.” 

“That’s a great way to start a conversation.” Tommy scoffed. 

WIlbur laughed quietly, “Yeah, I know, I’m an excellent conversationalist. But back to my point. So, Tommy, you know Schlatt, who is - frankly - someone you should have no knowledge of, or even the vague understanding of, and yet here we are. How do you know him?” 

“Does it matter?” Tommy suddenly felt very uncomfortable. 

“It does to me. You know things you shouldn’t, and that can get you hurt. I don’t think either of us want that, so I ask again, how do you know Schlatt?” 

“I don’t know Schlatt, I know  _ of _ Schlatt. There’s a difference.” 

Wilbur sighed softly, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Fine, how do you know of Schlatt then.”

“People.” The blond couldn’t keep the grin off his face with his replies. 

“Alright then smartass.” He crossed his arms, “If you’re going to be like that, why don’t you ask the questions?” His voice dripped with sarcasm. 

“Okay then, why are you doing school here?” 

Wilbur was slightly surprised that he had actually asked a question, and not just given another snotty comment. Instead of arguing, he shrugged and replied. 

“Bio sciences, but I want to minor in historical politics.” 

“Why? That sounds bloody boring.” 

“How dare you insult the government,” He feigned mock hurt, “Well then, what are you studying sir?”

“Computer Science, the superior science.” 

Wilbur was still concerned over Tommy’s knowledge of the ruler of the Nether, and the fact that he had deflected all of his questions. He did enjoy the more peaceful atmosphere, he also knew he couldn’t just let the topic of Schlatt drop before the end of this conversation either. Maybe if he eased Tommy into it, he could get the boy talking. So he mocked an old person’s voice saying. 

“You youngin’s and your technology.” 

Tommy nodded, “Yup we love our tech.” 

If he was being honest, Wilbur was probably one of the better versed demons in technology. He was one of the youngest around, and had spent a lot of time on the surface as well. Which meant that he had an excellent grasp on modern technologies, especially in comparison to many demons. Before moving here, he had even started picking up streaming, which he mostly did of small games and him singing with only a few viewers every time, if that. He smiled a bit proudly and laughed with Tommy. But, he had a feeling he’d lose this conversation and opportunity quickly if he didn’t circle back around. 

He shot a glance towards the third occupied bedroom, “You and your mate Tubbo. . .” He stopped to think over his next words carefully as he studied the shorter blond, “Look, I’m not stupid, and I know you’re not stupid either, so going back to my first point lets cut to the chase. I know your buddy is a hunter.” 

Tommy squinted at him and frowned, “And?” 

“ _ And _ you’re clearly suspicious of me. It’s why you called Tubbo, why Tubbo has a salt medallion, and why you left earlier. Your friend has made quite the name for himself you know. Especially for being so young.” He adjusted his glasses and leveled Tommy’s gaze, “So what do you  _ really _ want to ask me?”

“Okay smart guy, are you a demon? And do you work for Schlatt?” 

“First, yes.” He didn’t mind being open about it, hopefully honesty could help gain his trust, “And secondly. . .that’s complicated. No I don’t work  _ for _ him, I’m not some sort of underling or anything. But I do work with him sometimes. I don’t exactly work for or against him.”

“Good to know,” Tommy looked him over, “Do you plan to stab Tubbo and I?”

WIlbur couldn’t help the snort that escaped him, “Stab? Hah! No.” He continued to laugh quietly, “No, I already told you, I mean you two no harm. Schlatt isn’t my friend, or my boss, and if it means what I’m doing is keeping humans safe? Then he is just as much my enemy.”

Tommy visibly relaxed and nodded, “That’s nice. . .nice to know.”

Wilbur gave a hesitant and hopeful smile, “Now do you trust me? Even if only a little?” 

“Nah, but to be fair, I don’t trust anyone other than Tubbo.” Tommy gave him a cheeky grin in response. 

Wilbur returned the grin, and judging by the boy’s brief surprise he had realized that he had fangs, “I suppose that’s fair, now can you at least try and talk to your friend so he stops freaking out? I’d do it myself, but I think he’d appreciate it more from you.” 

“I can try.” 

Tommy stood and left the room, turning down the hall and into the closed bedroom that Tubbo had vanished into. He couldn’t do anything, but sit and wait and hope for the best. He tuned in trying to listen to their conversation, since it wasn’t exactly like either of them were being quiet. The sound of pacing footsteps from before slowed and then halted entirely as Tommy entered the room. 

“Is he one of them?” 

“A demon? Oh yeah, absolutely.” 

“You’re awfully calm about that.” 

He could hear a small sound like a verbal shrug from Tommy, and a quiet chuckle, “I mean what are we supposed to do about it? We may as well stay calm.” 

Tubbo took a moment to reply, “I guess you’re right.” 

“You should go out and talk to him yourself.” Wilbur couldn’t help but tense slightly at the suggestion. 

Granted he had suggested it to Tommy, but still some feral part buried deep in the back of his mind couldn’t help but panic at the prospect of talking with a hunter. Let alone sharing living quarters with one. But he’d do it, and keep his head about him for it too. Eventually after a few minutes, Tommy walked out with Tubbo trailing his heels. Tubbo and Wilbur began to hesitantly talk, but after only a few minutes of choppy conversation, Tommy interrupted. 

“Ok so there are a few rules.” He didn’t care about cutting into any conversation as he spoke, “There is some food marked in the fridge. Do not touch it or there will be war. Keep music to yourself, and my laundry day is Tuesday, and Tubbo’s is thursday.” He listed off the rules as if he owned the place.

Wilbur couldn’t help but laugh quietly at the war comment, and spoke rolling his eyes, “Ah yes m’lord, I shall follow all your rules.” 

“Good, and last thing, don’t bother me when my door is closed.” He stated with a nod before turning and heading into his own room. 

He watched Tommy go, before going back to the conversation with Tubbo. It was admittedly a rocky start, but once the tension had eased, they both had hit it off surprisingly well. The sun had begun its descent into the horizon, and the pair were still chatting idly about languages, learning them, and the difficulty of teaching them to others. Due to the onset of fall months, despite the low sun, it wasn’t all that late into the night. Although since Tommy had spent the majority of the day in his room, it seemed he had decided to socialize as he walked back out to the main room and kitchen seeing the two on the couch. 

“Oh my gosh, are you two still talking? What on Earth could be so interesting that you talk for hours?”

Wilbur looked up, Tubbo had become tired from his early morning and bad sleep schedule, so he was doing most of the talking, although he couldn’t help the teasing comment, “Glad you can finally join us.” 

“Sorry my people meter doesn’t extend as long as you two,” He replied back with a grin, “I have to recharge after thirty minutes of interaction.”

Tubbo stood with a yawn, “Hey in fairness, me neither, but unlike you Wilbur actually likes to listen,” Tommy scoffed as he looked at the clock, “Damn since when did it get so late today?”

Tommy at this point had moved into the kitchen looking for something to eat, and Wilbur was starting to be made aware that he should probably do the same. He stood with a stretch and a yawn as the blond spoke, “Uh, since the sun went down?”

The brunette grabbed a simple snack and began heading towards his own room, “I should try and sleep, I’ve got an exam tomorrow.” 

Tommy had just opened a can of coke, and started drinking it, “Don’t we all?’ 

“Yeah, and caffeine is going to fix that sleep schedule.” 

Wilbur listened to the two banter, and it was obvious that both boys were good friends, and could easily bounce off of one another with witty comments and sarcastic remarks. It was rather pleasant if he was being honest, not many friendships like that formed down in the Nether. He hung his coat up that he’d been wearing earlier and discarded his boots before making his way into the kitchen. 

“Want anything demon boy?” 

He couldn’t help but flinch slightly at the term, “No, I’m fine, I ate a few hours ago, and please don’t call me that. I’m not. .I’m not a demon, that’s just what humans call our kind.” 

“Well then what are you?” Tommy turned to him with half a sandwich hanging out of his mouth as he closed the fridge. 

“Chew your food, what are you an animal?” 

“Maybe I am.” 

He rolled his eyes after chiding Tommy, and then realized that his English was probably more rusty than he originally thought. He couldn’t remember the translation for it, and cursed himself under his breath. Tommy watched him unblinkingly as he munched on his food. 

He tried not to smile, and tried his best, “I think. . .I think the English translation is. . .dark. . .dark creature? No Dark Creators.”

“Dark Creatures? That sounds pretty demon-like to me.” He had a mouth full of food with his last few bites as he spoke.

“Yeah, and I suppose you’d call the lights angels too?” He couldn’t hide the twinge of bitterness that arose in him, and in his voice. But he did his best to sweep it away and dismiss it, “Humans have a poor understanding of my kind.”

“Probably, but I mean, who cares? You probably have a bad understanding of us.” 

“And why do you say that?” 

“I dunno, but I won’t admit to being the only ignorant one.”

He smiled warmly, “Alright alright fine, I will admit. . that learning technology was pretty awkward for me. Is that helpful?” 

“Incredibly so. Do you at least know how communicators work?” 

Wilbur produced his own device from his pocket. Communicators were sort of their own version of cell phones, but they had a wider range of abilities, and could communicate across dimensions as well, although humans didn’t really know that. But he held it up nonetheless. 

“Yeah, I’ve got a good grasp on them, but video games, well, as fun as they are, are still harder for me to pick up. But I do play a few.” 

Tommy perked up and asked excitedly, “Oh! Oh! You do? What do you play?”

He had to pause and think over the words, since he had mostly read several of the titles, he went with the ones he’d heard aloud and been told how to say from when he would occasionally stream game play, “A few music games really, but I like that one game Among Us is what it’s called? And Minecraft.”

That seemed to spark something in the blond, and he began to bounce excitedly on his heels. At Wilbur’s side within a blink of an eye as he spoke fast and excitedly. His eyes were as wide as saucers as well.

“You play Minecraft?!” He sounded like he was about to burst with the amount of sudden energy he had mysteriously gained.

“Uh . yeah I do, so?” He was definitely caught off guard by the sudden change, “Although I’m still pretty bad at the game.” 

“That’s fine, I can teach you.”

For some reason that sounded vaguely threatening, But, he was intrigued nonetheless, and got up from his seat at the kitchen to go and retrieve his laptop. Once he had it, he returned and plopped into a seat beside Tommy. Despite the cool air of the fall, and the dorm, he was unbothered by the temperatures. After all most demons had a naturally high body temperature, leaving them immune to most low temperature fires. But Wilbur was also a special case, completely immune to any and all forms of heat and fire, including lava. He opened the lid, and began to boot up the game, seeing Tommy do the same. 

“You can try to teach me, but I’m only good at enchantments.” He laughed softly. 

Tommy had a devilish grin, “How about I teach you to make drugs?” 

He frowned, brow furrowing in confusion as he let Tommy join his world. At the moment, he was just following Tommy’s in game character around. 

“Drugs?”

“Yeah, well, potions. Not real drugs, because those are illegal.” 

Wilbur rolled his eyes, and began to follow his instructions. It only took a short amount of time for him to pick it up. The pair continued with brewing and just having fun messing around with their potions for a little while. But that eventually started to become boring. So he got Tommy’s attention and placed down the enchantment table in front of Tommy, before leading him into the enchanting room as he spoke. 

“Did you know enchantment table is a real language?   


“. . .what? You mean the nonsense it spews?” 

“Yeah the nonsense.” He grinned, “I’m not sure how or where the devs learned the language but, watch I’ll show you.” 

He stopped and shifted his screen so the other could see it as well. He grabbed some materials in game, an axe and opened the table again as he placed it in, mouse hovering over one of the available enchants. 

“This will be. . .smith. . no smit? Smite, smite 2. Sorry, I’m pretty shit at translating it back to English.” 

“You are so weird.” He clicked on it and laughed as the demon was right, “It was smite.” 

WIlbur joined his laughter and causally shrugged, “It’s easy when it’s the language you speak.” 

“You speak it?” He raised an eyebrow looking at Wilbur skeptically. 

“Yeah, well I mean, technically English is my mother tongue, but it's been a long time since I’ve had to fluently speak it before moving back to the surface, so Galactic is just natural for me. Let me show you.” 

He adjusted his glasses, and this time grabbed a chestplate in game, and had Tommy look at what he was doing, he paused flicking between a few, before hovering on the third option. 

“Thorns, and protection two.” Sure enough he was right. 

He did it a few more times, and Tommy seemed to listen intently as he continued to list off each enchantment, and never messing up, being correct every time before it appeared in English. 

“Can you teach me that?” 

“Teach you. . .Galactic?” He was actually shocked a human would want to learn the language of Creators, “Why do you want to learn it?”

“Why not?” 

“I just.. .I just didn’t expect you to care I guess.” 

“Well, I don’t honestly, but I want to flex on others that I can read Minecraft gibberish.” 

He snorted, shaking his head, “It isn’t gibberish, it’s actually a very old language. It’s been around for. . .let's see what year it is. 1998?” He mumbled to himself as he thought aloud. 

“Is that what year you think it is?” 

Wilbur hesitated to answer, both out of embarrassment, and not wanting to explain himself, so he finally reluctantly answered, “Kind of? I’m probably off since I’ve stopped counting the years.” 

Tommy studied him for a long moment, frowning, “No it’s 2020, that;s just. .weird. Oh well, now you know.”

“I’m the weird one?” He asked sarcastically, “What, you’re telling me it’s  _ not _ normal to not know the year, speak several languages, and have magic abilities?” 

“You have powers?!”

“You aren’t. . you’re not supposed to know that,” He stammered slightly at the slip up, “I do, but that’s not important.” 

Tommy clearly didn’t want to drop the subject, but he did want to. So the two went back to playing for a little while, and he watched as Tommy built a big cobblestone weiner. Tommy was clearly finding this hilarious, and he just rolled his eyes at the immature and childish joke. Eventually after a little while, he glanced up at the clock. 

“It’s nearly midnight, shouldn’t you get some rest?” 

“Probably.” Yet he made no move to get up. 

“You really should at least try, it’s not healthy having so little sleep.” He mentally chided himself for sounding so much like a parent or concerned older sibling. 

“So what? You’re not my mum. Why do you care?”

Wilbur didn’t really have a defense for the accusation, so he rolled his eyes instead, waving off the teen, “Fine then, fuck up your sleep schedule, but you’re a kid, so you should at least try.” 

“What even is a sleep schedule?” 

He smiled and leaned on his doorframe, unable to suppress the yawn that took him, “Well then what else do you have for entertainment?” 

“Dunno.” He yawned as well, and as he walked to his room, it was obvious he did at least intend to sleep soon. 

“Then sleep.” WIlbur said with a small smirk, stifling another yawn and mumbled more to himself, “Damn. . .” He then spoke a bit louder, “I think I’m going to hit the hay.” 

“Whatever,” He scoffed affectionately before heading into his own room. 

Wilbur was so exhausted, that he closed the door, and quickly changed to more comfortable sleeping clothes. As well as dropping his camo, and flopping down onto the bed. It only took a mere few moments before he promptly passed out. Using camo all day, and constantly forcing himself to remember and use English had him drained, so he was utterly exhausted, and sleep invited him with open arms. 

\-----------------------------------

Tommy had fallen asleep shortly as well, but was awoken by his dry throat, having forgotten to get any sort of water before bed. He sighed as he had barely even fallen asleep, and got up, heading towards the living room. Scratching his head as he attempted to navigate in the near darkness of the night. Unbeknownst to him, Wilbur being a light sleeper had also awoken, his own stomach growling, and his exhausted mind forgetting about his human camo in its entirety. 

In his more natural form, even hunched he was around seven feet tall. A pair of black horns curved backwards like a twisted and fractured halo from his hair which fell messily in his face and eyes. His eyes themselves were a pale violet color, with a far richer purple iris. Most of his skin was covered with a mid length sleeved sleep shirt, and sweatpants. However his gray and dark brown mottled skin was still visible from a few areas. He had a long thin tail that ended in a puff of dark fur that swung lazily behind him. 

Tommy just about jumped out of his own skin as he leapt away from him, “What the fuck?!” It took everything in him not to just flat out scream his words at the other. 

Wilbur turned his half lidded gaze to him, squinting slightly in confusion. His mind was lagging and one could almost hear the dial up internet that it was running on. 

“Um. . mind not looking like that at one in the morning. . .in the dark. . .?” 

“Wha - “ The dial up seemed to finally connect as he blinked at Tommy, “Oh, oh! Ohhhhh. Shit, sorry.” 

Wilbur shifted back to his human form, although his skin still had some dark patches, and his eyes were still a glowing hue of purple as he trudged over to the fridge for his walk of shame for midnight snacks. 

“It’s fine, just turn on some lights man.” He laughed nervously. 

Wilbur cocked his head at him, “Didn’t you turn on the lights?” 

“No, I didn’t, and seeing you in the dark is fucking terrifying.” He moved to get himself a glass of water. 

Wilbur had grabbed an apple, and went to sit at the table with a huff, “Not my fault you’re a baby.” 

“Now that’s just rude.”

Wilbur just shrugged, too tired and still sleepy enough to not care. He hadn’t even bothered to perfect his camo, so he had several sharp fangs as he chewed his apple, and sat quietly for a few minutes. As Tommy leaned against the counter and finished his drink, he dropped his camo. He had no energy to actually keep it up in the first place anyways. WIth a sigh, Tommy finished his water, and set his cup in the sink, turning to head back to bed as he waved at his demon roommate. 

“See you in the morning Wilbur.”

“ᓭᒷᒷ ||𝙹⚍ ╎リ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᒲ𝙹∷リ╎リ⊣” Wilbur nodded after the boy as he ate the apple core without hesitation. 

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ᔑ∷ᒷ ||𝙹⚍ ℸ ̣ ᔑꖎꖌ╎リ⊣ ᔑʖ𝙹⚍ℸ ̣ ? 𝙹⍑ 𝙹⍑.” Wilbur sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his head, “Clearly I am too tired for English . . .goodnight Tommy.” 

“Good night.” 

He walked back to his room, and closed his eyes. Today had certainly been a weird day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second longest chapter I've ever written, with the first chapter of 'My Secret Demon Boy' being 12 pages, and this one is 10.


	3. Unmasked

Tubbo quietly sighed as he unlocked the door to their dorm, having been released from class early since a teacher had called in sick. He shifted the backpack on his shoulders as he opened the door, and walked into the main room, unsure if Tommy or Wilbur were home or not. The two boys had been sharing a living space with him for around two months at this point. While Tubbo was still adjusting, Tommy seemed to have easily bonded with the older man. Often behaving almost like a clingy younger sibling to him. He glanced around the living room as he entered and set his bag down. 

He stifled a snicker as he saw the blond on the couch, earbuds in, and wrapped in a certain someone’s coat. Tommy had his nose buried in his communicator, and was occasionally humming softly under his breath to the music he was listening to. He figured Tommy would probably never live this moment down since Wilbur must’ve left his coat back here today, and leaned on the back of the couch. 

“Whatcha doin?” He asked with a cheeky grin. 

Tommy spun around startled, “I uh.. This. .this isn’t what it looks like.” He quickly retorted. 

He raised an eyebrow, “It looks like you’re wearing Will’s coat.” 

“I am? I hadn’t realized.” 

“You are a terrible liar Tommy, why are you wearing his coat?” 

“Because I’m cold! What’s your excuse for that outfit?” 

Tubbo was grinning, and snapped a quick picture of Tommy in the jacket, and feigned offence, “How dare you, I look amazing today, just wait until I tell Wilbur then.” 

“Wait wait wait wait! You don’t need to do that!” Tommy leapt to his feet, trying to snatch Tubbo’s phone from his hands. 

In reality, Tommy whether intentionally or not, had become accustomed to the scent Wilbur carried. While he didn’t know that most demons had a distinct scent almost like a fingerprint, he did know that he liked the faint hint of woodsmoke and cedar that seemed to cling to Wilbur. It was barely noticeable most days, but some days, after long days at his ‘work’ it was more obvious. Of course, he would never, ever, in a million years, admit this.

But the coat smelled like Wilbur, and he liked it. It was like a sense of comfort, of safety. He had no idea why, but it was something so deeply rooted in the back of his mind, he stopped trying to figure it out a while ago. 

Just to tease the other, he stepped back holding it out, with the image pulled up, “Why not?” 

He paused for a moment frowning, “Because I don’t want demon boy to hurt me, plus he shouldn’t have left his coat on the couch when it’s cold.” 

“It’s barely cold,” Tubbo scoffed, “Plus I don’t think he’s physically capable of hurting you, he cares too much about you Tommy.” 

Tommy huffed, and pulled the larger brown coat around him and rolled his eyes, “Whatever,” he mumbled. 

Tubbo couldn’t help but laugh softly and shake his head as he went into their small kitchen, and began to work on his maths homework. Wilbur was nowhere to be found, probably at his job, whatever it was. The man was very vague and often avoided talking about what he’d do during days he didn’t have school, or really whatever his work was. After a few minutes, Tommy’s device buzzed with a text message. It was from Wilbur. 

_I think I left my coat at home, have you seen it?_

_nope. Have u checked if its on u?_

_Very funny._

_I think I’m sure that it’s not on me, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing outside and locked out of my. . ._

_Well I suppose ‘Office’ is the best English translation._

_Use your keys then_

_They’re in my coat dumbass._

_Then get it._

_Do you have my coat?_

_No._

_Why would you think that?_

_Because you seem to like hanging around me, even if you deny it._

_Do you know where it is at least?_

_You’re delusional_

_Nope not a clue._

_Why would I want ur smelt coat anyways?_

_It smells?_

_Yup_

_Smelly smelly_

_Wheres your office anyways?_

_That is a difficult answer._

_Something I would much rather discuss in person._

As if on cue, there was the quiet sound of jingling keys in the dorm lock. Wilbur slowly opened the door. However, upon reading the message, and then hearing the lock click, he immediately stripped off the coat, and chucked it across the room in a panic. The sound of the buttons clattering on the floor felt like nails on a chalkboard or cymbals crashing. Wilbur looked up, and Tommy noticed that he seemed to have a heavier scent of woodsmoke about him. Although the fact that he had noticed it at all, was a fact he’d never admit.

“Oh Tommy, I didn’t think you were home.” 

“I thought you were at your office?” Tommy replied with a frown. 

WIlbur cocked his head as if thinking, “I well. . .yes office is the best english for it. It doesn’t translate very well. But I was.” 

Wilbur laughed slightly as he talked, and Tommy had completely forgotten that the coat was supposed to have his keys in it. “Yeah, but why aren’t you now?” 

“My keys?” He asked dubiously as he spotted the jacket in a heap on the floor, “Couldn’t find it huh?” 

“Couldn’t be bothered to look, or pick it up.” 

“You are such a child Tommy,” He scoffed as he produced a small shiny black card from the pocket as he slipped it on, “Ah, I did leave it here then.” 

“I am not a child! You are just an old man. . .what’s that?” 

“My keycard, just verification to get me into my building.” 

“Your building?” 

“My boss's locks.” 

“Locks?” He continued to ask, not at all picking up on the fact that Wilbur was probably being vague for a reason. 

Wilbur seemed to look him over, clearly thinking over his answer before he replied, “Locks to rooms.” 

“What kind of rooms?” 

“Meeting rooms.” 

Tommy huffed, slightly annoyed at this point at the vague answers. After all it was just a job, and he was getting frustrated that Wilbur was pretty much refusing to say anything other than generic information about it. So he decided he would push a little further, to see if he could pry anything more out of him. 

“Okay then, what are you meeting for today then?” He stood and stretched idly. 

“We want to discuss some. . .issues with the current leadership.” 

“Oooh is someone in trouble? Do I know them if they are?” He moved to be standing beside Wilbur now. 

Now that he was closer, he was certain that the man had a thicker scent of the bitter sweet woodsmoke about him. The darker haired boy paused for a moment, turning to face Tommy as he hesitated to answer yet again. 

“No probably not, they moved to the surface recently though, their name is Fundy.” 

“Oh! I know Fundy, you know him?” 

Wilbur smiled slightly, “Yeah, but I didn’t realize he was here. But I’ve still got a job to do now.”

“What’s your job then?” He wasn’t about to let this drop without getting answers. 

“Important.” 

Tommy rolled his eyes, “No shit sherlock, but what is it? Do you need any help?”

“No.” He answered almost too quickly, before taking a deep breath, “No, my. . .boss, well more of my co-worker wants to keep this private.” 

“That’s no fun! I thought we were mates, how come you can’t tell me?” 

“We aren’t mates, this isn’t about you Tommy. Do not play that card.”

Wilbur’s harsh tone caught him off guard, and so he pouted slightly. He was admittedly disappointed that he hadn’t managed to glean any real new information, and now he’d also probably upset Wilbur as well. So he shrugged, brushing it off. 

“Whatever.” 

“You aren’t actually mad are you?”

“Nah, I didn’t actually think you’d tell me to be fair.” 

He laughed a bit, “Yeah, well maybe one day I can tell you about the council - “

Wilbur suddenly cut himself off, and hesitated, looking tense at Tommy as if expecting some sort of reaction or response. But the blond hadn’t really picked up at the implication of that sentence, so he whined, with a joking complaint. 

“Oh no, now you’ve gotta, you said so yourself.” 

“No, no, this is my job Tommy.” 

He still didn’t catch on, “Come onnnnn,” He whined at the older boy. 

Wilbur cleared his throat, “No, I’ve said enough as is right now about where I work.” 

It suddenly started to click what Wilbur was talking about. How he’d gotten to and from his ‘office’ so fast. How he’d been vague about where he worked, and who he worked for. It made sense, and explained how Wilbur had known Schlatt seemingly so well. He suddenly felt stupid for having not realized this before now as he thought this over for a moment. 

“. . .council? Wait! Wilbur!” He gasped, taking a step back and away from the demon. 

“Tommy wait - this - this isn’t what you think.” 

“Yeah right!” He took a few more steps back, “You know what man? . . .You. . you don’t have to tell me.” 

Wilbur reached out to him, gingerly calling his name. Almost on some instinct, he smacked the hand away Wilbur seemed to recoil after being hit, as if he’d been struck much harder. His dark eyes focused on him as he pleaded quietly, his voice gentle and somber. 

“Tommy please, don’t run. Let me explain.” 

“I don’t run.” Tommy retorted, at this point he wasn’t sure what to do. 

He knew if he got Tubbo, that the hunter would happily jump to his side, and protect him. Yet, at the same time, Wilbur had done nothing to hurt either of them. If anything, he’d worked to help provide for both of them, and acted as some sort of protector to Tommy many times over. So now he felt trapped between a rock and a hard place with this dawning of new information. 

Wilbur sighed softly, “Yes, I’m part of the Dark Creator Council. But - humans have a lot wrong about us. We aren’t angels, but what you guys call angels. . . those things aren’t human anymore, they’re a far cry from it compared to me. I’m on the council. . .I’m actually pretty high on it. Which is why I don’t have a boss.” 

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Getting Tubbo still wasn’t off the table in his mind. 

“N-no. . no it’s not, I just,” WIlbur looked away as if in shame, “I don’t like the council anymore than you do. I’m a part of it because it was an opportunity and I was almost forced to take it. But now, without it, . . .with it I’m keeping you guys safe.” 

“Would we be in danger if you weren’t?” 

“Yes.” Wilbur spoke firmly and nodded, “You’re roommate Tubbo, he’s a good kid, and he’s nice. . .but he’s also good at what he does. To the council, he’s just as much a threat to us, as the hunters see the council. To the twelve, he’s a wanted man, and they don’t care who they hurt to get to him.” 

“Oh. . .do they know you’re here with him?” 

“No, but my presence deflects suspicion here.” 

“Okay. . .and does Tubbo know this? That you’re on the council?” Wilbur shook his head and Tommy continued, “And I guess you don’t want me to tell him either?” 

“No, you can’t tell him, and I mean that Tommy.” Wilbur’s voice was stern, “I may be an equal to Schlatt, but he has a far greater social influence than I do.” 

“I can’t just lie to him,” Tommy retorted, crossing his arms.

“Why not? It’s for your own good.” 

“How? Tubbo should know he’s rooming with a councilman!” Tommy threw his arms in the air in frustration. 

The brown haired boy’s eyes flashed to a muted purple color, a danger, and a warning, “No! I mean that Tommy! It’s bad enough that I told you.” He snapped. 

“That’s not my fault! Tubbo is my best friend!:” He yelled. 

“If you tell him, you’ll fucking die too!” 

“Why?! Don’t you trust him not to say stuff?!” 

With a swift and quick motion, Wilbur grabbed Tommy’s shoulders. His eyes were a rich violet, glowing like an enderman’s eyes. An ethereal color known for corruption. Tommy swallowed thickly, for once genuinely afraid of the man. He knew Wilbur wouldn’t hurt him, but those eyes.. . Those eyes were terrifying as Wilbur spoke lowly and coldly. 

“That has nothing to do with it.” He had a low rumble like a growl to his voice, “I’m doing what I can to keep you guys alive, and to fulfill my duty as a Guardian. This conversation has shit enough on those efforts already. So. You will say nothing. Nothing to Tubbo.” He spat as his lip curled over a pair of sharp fangs in a silent snarl. 

Tommy felt like he was swallowing lead, “. . .okay.”

He seemed to suddenly realize just how much he was scaring the boy, and released his hold on him. He stepped away a few paces, opening his mouth as if to say something before closing it again with no words leaving. He turned to leave quietly, and for a moment, Tommy did nothing to stop him. 

“Wilbur. . .” He called softly, not trusting his own voice to not betray his fear, “I won’t tell him.”

Wilbur glanced back being called to. Stopping in his tracks briefly as he held the door open, and sighed quietly. He seemed a mix of guilty and relieved, and nodded silently. The door closed behind him with a quiet click as the demon relocked the dorm’s front door. 

A hunter, a demon councilman, and a human all under a single roof. It was like the start to some shitty supernatural comedy, but nothing about this was funny in the moment. Tommy eventually settled back onto the couch, putting his earbuds back in as he closed his eyes, resting his head in his hands. He felt awful knowingly keeping a secret from his best, and closest friend. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to betray Wilbur’s trust either, so his mind felt like it was fighting itself as he calmed himself down. A minute or two later, movement caught his eye and he looked up to see Tubbo leaving his room, holding one earbud out. 

“Well he sounded pissed.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very dialogue heavy sorry ^^' but you guys let me know if you like the more story/ description chapters or dialogue.


	4. Mysteries Unmasked

Tubbo came over and rested a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Are you alright?” 

Tommy nodded and offered a small smile, “Yeah I’m fine, Wilbur is just a stubborn man.” 

Tubbo still seemed to be concerned, and offered a hug to Tommy, which he happily accepted. Wilbur’s warning still ran through his mind, _you can’t tell Tubbo_. He desperately wanted to talk to Tubbo about the conversation that had just taken place, but he also couldn’t bring himself to betray Wilbur’s trust in the moment, so instead he resolved to steer the conversation to something new. 

“So what have you been up to Big T?” 

“I’ve been running this new script on that website,” His eyes seemed to light up with a mischievous grin on his face, “Once again Big Hack has found secrets.” 

“Secrets? Now you’ve gotta show me.” 

Tubbo seemed happy to comply as he started walking back to his bedroom, gesturing for the blond to follow him. It was a breath of fresh air to see him so relaxed for once. Ever since Wilbur came around, the two seemed to feed off one another and set the other off. Tubbo was nice, but Tommy knew deep down it was just tolerance, he didn’t actually like Wilbur. Tubbo’s PC was on, and he glanced at the illuminated screen in curiosity. 

“Ok ok, so you remember that huge government conspiracy we’ve been joking about? With all the classified deaths and people and shit? Well you’ll never guess what I found!” 

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say you found the murder cases.” 

Tubbo snorted, laughing a bit, “I mean, yeah, but look at this!” 

He sat down in his chair, and Tommy settled down on the edge of his roommate’s bed, peering at the screen as Tubbo pointed to a list of names on screen. Many of the names were still scrambled, or encoded in some computer script, others were still entirely removed, but it was some progress from when they had first started this, where every single name had been black boxes, with no pictures. Almost all of the legible names had ‘Dr.’ or Sc in front of it. Sc presumably being a shortened title for scientist. 

“All of these names, they’re doctors, and or scientists. Every single one of them was hired at some point by the government it seems. But that’s where I’m hitting a wall, its like these people don’t even exist.” 

“What do you mean don’t exist?” He asked as he shifted, looking over the brunette’s shoulder to read one of the names. 

“Watch.” 

That was all he said as he opened a new window in a search engine, and typed in one of the names. He scrolled for a bit, and not a single article seemed remotely related to the name. Let alone seeming to mention the person at all. It seemed to be something that had properly stumped google. 

“See what I mean? It’s like they were just wiped off the face of the Earth. But they had to have been someone since - “ He paused as he pulled the decryption window key back up, which was a gray and black box requesting a password from the first list of names, “- I’m just blocked off.” 

“Well then get through it. Do your little spy shit and get through.” 

Tubbo looked back at him rolling his eyes, “I’m trying, and I’ve started to hash through a few passwords, which is why I do have a few names. Like this guy.” 

He pulled up the original window again, and clicked on one of the names that was actually legible and not just indecipherable computer data. As it loaded, a white screen came up, like a digital print of a resume. A small square picture next to a name was smiling at them from the window. The photo was black and white, and seemed incredibly professional..But black boxes omitted several sentences, dates, and other information from the document. The name however, was only partially blotted out. It read as _Dr. Soot Age: 19 Sex: M Status - Missing._

“Can you zoom in on that image?” Tommy pointed to the top of the screen, before continuing, “Did he come up in anything when you searched for him?” 

Tubbo nodded, “Yeah, it was pretty buried I won’t lie. But he seems like he was some apprentice to Bio studies or something like that. The article was pretty short, and pretty basic honestly.” 

He opened the grainy and old picture. It was poor quality, and fuzzy around any details that weren’t immediately obvious which almost instantly created a testament to the image’s age. However faded white text in the bottom corner that seemed to have been handwritten gave it a date. _Sept. 7th, 1901._ The man in the image looked slightly younger than Wilbur, with a pair of glasses perched on his nose. Dark curls of what was probably brown hair fell around his face and eyes. His shirt was a black button up dress shirt it seemed. 

“Basically he went missing in some accident. They found him a few years later, I think like five or six? He had killed himself,” Tubbo began to explain, “There really weren't very many details, but he was found in like April or May of 1909.” 

Tommy looked long and hard at the image, trying to take in every detail before he skimmed over the small article Tubbo opened earlier. It was barely a few paragraphs, and mostly just a simplified and generic obituary. Something occurred to him, and for a moment he debated even asking, but resolved it would be best to just ask. 

“He looks a lot like Wilbur don’t you think?” He looked at the brunette, “Like shockingly like him.” 

“I thought that too, but I didn’t want to seem weird,” He laughed a little as he rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s almost uncanny.” 

“It is, do you think demons can be related to people? Cause surely this isn’t a coincidence?” 

“Dunno, maybe when he’s back you can ask him, he seems to like you more than me anyways.” 

Tubbo turned back to the computer as he clicked back to the old resume. There was a lot of information blotted out and redacted, but some bits and pieces were still readable. Including a few notable dates, such as being marked ‘missing’ on November of 1903, and then a suicide reported in May of 1909. He took a step back at his friend’s suggestion and put his hands up shaking his head.

“No way! I’m not asking him shit, he’s already pissed off at me, and I’m not angering demon boy further.” 

“What?” His brow furrowed as he looked back at Tommy, “Maybe you just misunderstood, he couldn’t have been that upset, since you two like never argue, well for real at least.” 

“Yeah maybe. . .” He sighed, “But he made it pretty clear he didn’t like my questions. Do I really have to ask him?” 

Tubbo gave him a reassuring smile, “If you really want, I can ask him. So what were you two fighting about this time?” 

Tommy opened his mouth, and was about to just tell him everything exactly as it happened but caught himself at the last moment. Will’s warning was still fresh and heavy in his mind. So he figured a simplified truth, and a little white lie couldn’t hurt. 

“He didn’t like that I had his coat. He had to come back and get his keys, and I wouldn’t give them to him.” He shrugged, “It’s alright, I can ask him.” 

Judging by Tubbo’s look he clearly didn’t actually believe Tommy in the slightest. Instead the hunter studied him for several long aching and stressful heartbeats before nodding, turning back to his screen, most likely to try and solve more names. 

“Okay, but. . you know you can talk to me about anything right?” 

That made a pang of guilt twist around his heart, but he pushed it away, “Yeah yeah, don’t get into mushy shit Tubbs. I promise I’ll ask him when he gets back alright?” 

Tubbo grinned and laughed, “Okay, well if I find the secret identity to Jack the Ripper, I’ll let you know.” 

“Good, I expect some good shit next time.” He teased as he left. 

It was several hours before Wilbur came home. So he had decided to work on some school work and a project whilst waiting for the demon to arrive back home. When he finally did, he looked tired. Not physically, more like _I've dealt with idiots all day, please don’t give me more_ way. He walked into the kitchen where he rummaged around for a minute before seemingly finding what he was looking for. Some leftover pizza from the night before, which he put on a plate and into the oven.

When he heard the front door open, and Wilbur arrive home, Tommy suddenly dreaded the prospect of leaving his room. Suddenly his English paper he’d been putting off and procrastinating seemed very enticing to work on compared to the question he needed to ask. If questions could be poisons, he was sure he was holding one of the most volatile toxins. Dragging himself to his feet with a deep sigh, he finally left his room and as he went to the kitchen he called out. 

“Wilbur. . .” 

Said boy was standing by the oven, putting his food in it, and noticeably not wearing any sort of oven mitts as he casually put it down on the rack. But he glanced up and around hearing his name being called before spotting the other. 

“Oh, hey Tommy.” He said quietly.

“Hey. . .so I uh, I have a question for you,” He started while fiddling with his shirt, unable to meet the other’s eyes, “Tubbo was looking at this stuff with me, and we uh. .we found this picture that looks a lot like you. Like a lot, a lot, and we were wondering what that was all about?” 

Wilbur seemed to tense ever so slightly, but shrugged as he turned the oven off, “Maybe it’s some freak coincidence.” 

“No. No way man, this guy looked exactly fucking like you.” He shook his head, finally looking up at him, “Said he comnitted suicide in the early 1900’s. . .”

“Interesting that's the story they went with.” He mumbled before speaking louder, “You’re poking around in something you really shouldn’t be.” 

“I know, but this time it’s Tubbo who’s doing the poking around, and it’s not like I’m going to tell him to stop. Besides it seems you know something about this.” Tommy crossed his arms. 

“You’re stubborn.” 

“Yeah I know.” He seemed over the fight from earlier which was a relief. 

“And yeah, I do. But that’s a long story.” 

“Care to explain the story? Cause I’ve got time.”

The time dinged as he answered Tommy, grabbing it calmly without any mitts yet again, “Depends, how detailed are you wanting?” 

He frowned seeing the lack of any sort of heat resistant utensils, and Wilbur seemed to just be calmly handling what was probably burning metal as he set his food on the counter. But he spoke quietly as he stared, “As much as your council membership will allow.” 

Wilbur, whether he saw, or sensed, Tommy’s concern raised a hand and wiggled his fingers. His skin wasn’t even slightly red, or burned looking and then shrugged with a small chuckle, “Fireproof, and if you’re wondering no I didn’t kill him, and it wasn’t a suicide.” 

“Well that makes you an old cunt,” He grinned and laughed, “So then what did happen? Because we couldn’t find jack shit about him. What happened to him?” 

“You’re looking at him.” 

“Wait. ..what?” He frowned as it clicked, “. . . .oh. . .oh. Okay. . .what happened?” 

That was not the answer he was expecting by any means. But Wilbur seemed oddly calm for talking about faking his death. 

“As in my death?” He shrugged leaning on the counter again as he took a bite of food thinking, “I mean there was a body yeah, and technically its mine, but also not at the time? It gets really complicated really fast and I’m not even sure how to explain it. But, if you’re a demon you either become one vampire style, but that’s really really rare, or you die.” 

“So which one were you. . . ?” Tommy asked cautiously. 

Tubbo at the time walked by, and played oblivious. He had earbuds in, but they were silent as he noticed Wilbur and Tommy talking. So he went and settled down on the couch, and eavesdropped on the pair while absently scrolling through his phone. Wilbur watched him for a moment before answering. 

“Which one? Well I died. . obviously. There was this accident of sorts a few years prior, and I was one of the only survivors. I forget how many people were there but I think it was somewhere around 80 ish?” He explained casually as if he was just talking about paint colors, “Anyways, I was a head researcher for them, and this lead scientist’s apprentice for about six years at the time. But he and I escaped, and I kept working for him, my own stubbornness getting me into a lot of trouble. So he killed me, and probably destroyed the evidence.”

“Wait wait, you were murdered? Someone burned you alive? But the report said you did it yourself. Someone killed you, and now you’re a demon, so who was it?” 

“Ah. . .well details get fuzzy around that time.” He frowned, “It was a doctor I think. . .Dr. Davidson was his name I believe. I always knew him as George though. I was kind of a wild card little shit back then,” He laughed a bit, “So I suppose rubble, no evidence and some bones would suffice for them.” 

“Fuck man, how can you just.. . talk about all of this? Doesn’t it bother you that some asshole murdered you?” 

He was nibbling on his food, “Nah, not really. I mean it’s been what? 100 years? Holding a grudge for that long doesn’t look pretty on anyone. I guess it kind of bothers me he got away so cleanly but what am I supposed to do now? . . .Ironic isn’t it?” 

“What’s ironic?” 

“Burned alive, and I’m fireproof.” Wilbur grinned a bit as he ate. 

“That’s some shit is what I think, did you really never come back to like take your revenge or anything?”

Tommy leaned on the back of a chair, trying to put himself in Wilbur’s shoes. In his mind if someone had done the same, or even attempted the same on him, he would’ve never taken it lying down. He was certain he’d put up a formidable fight first. Wilbur laughed for a moment, initially it was warm, but it had a dark undertone. 

“Of fucking course I did, he’s gotten his karma. Too bad human law enforcement couldn’t really do anything. But beating his ass certainly makes up for that.” 

“Good. He sounds like an arse, so I’m glad I never got to meet him. Otherwise he’d have met the wrong end of these,” He jumped into a fighting stance and put his fists up. 

Wilbur continued chuckling for a minute, and shook his head, “Good to know I’ve got back up, he is an ass, but he knows his place by now.” 

“By now? Is he still alive?” 

“Yeah, another demon, but I’m his boss now.” He grinned again, “But he likes to think he’s high and mighty. Although he;s pretty shit at actual combat. He tries though, and pretends he knows what he's doing.” 

“Wow sounds like a prick.” He was starting to slightly rethink his fighting option from before, but noticed his grin, and frowned slightly, “What’s that stupid grin for?”

“You showed me your fists saying they were a weapon. . .You wanna to see a real weapon?” 

His eyes lit up, and he couldn’t hide his own stupid grin now, “Yes! Do you have a gun by any chance?!” 

Wilbur looked at him confused for a moment, before shaking his head, instead holding his hand out, palm up, “No, guns are too loud, not my style.” 

“Damn I like guns.” He looked at Wilbur’s hand in confusion. 

Sheens of purple and black mist shifted around his hand and palm before they faded away, and he was holding a six or seven inch long dagger. The blade was elegant, and a deep black in color. But what was strangest of all was the twist in the metal, instead of being straight, it was instead a spiral. The blade itself had beautiful woven almost marble like patterns in it. The handle that he held was a deep gray leather that wrapped around a dark oak handle. Wilbur had a huge mischief filled grin. 

“Guns are nice and all, but this is _my_ weapon.” 

“ohHOHO! Can I hold it?! I wanna start stabbin some shit!” He reached for the weapon with grabby hands. 

Wilbur withdrew quickly, and looked conflicted. That’s when he remembered something Tubbo had told him a while back about demons and their weapons. He had said that every demon had their own unique weapon, entirely designed and attuned to that demon and their magic. It was created by the owner, and often seen as one of the most valuable items they had. 

“No stabbing.” He scolded like a disappointed older brother, “If you can. . if you can promise not to stab anything alive I’ll let you hold it.” 

“So non-living things don’t count?” He had a devilish grin, his first thought was to go and scare Tubbo with the large and intimidating knife. 

It was still being held out of his reach, “I’d prefer if you didn’t stab anything.” 

“Where’s the fun in that?” He pouted up at the taller boy. 

“Tommy,” He spoke sternly and seriously, “You can and almost certainly would kill any living thing with this, and damage either the blade edges, or the object if you were to stab it.” 

“Fine fine, now gimme gimme!” He made grabby hands for it again. 

He hesitated for another moment, before carefully handing it over with a final warning of caution. Tommy wasn’t really fully aware of just how much trust was behind the seemingly simple gesture. It was probably one of the most trusting acts Wilbur could possibly do. Although almost as soon as the metal was in his hands, he dashed over to the couch where Tubbo was sitting, and shouted said brunette’s name as he jumped in front of the other. 

“Tubbo!” He shouted as he waved the spiral knife around in his face, “Look what I got!” 

Glancing up, and getting spooked, Tubbo reacted instinctively, and bitch slapped Tommy across the face as he yelped, “Tommy! What the hell?!” 

Tommy stumbled back, almost throwing the knife in the air as he fell back, “OW!” He was rubbing his cheek in shock.

Wilbur was lingering just nearby, watching the two like an overly cautious hawk. Ready to desummon the blade at the slightest issue. Tubbo got up from his seat on the couch, and offered his hand to Tommy, helping him back to his feet as he apoligized. 

“Sorry Tommy, but don’t scare me like that!”

“You still didn’t need to bitch slap me, I just wanted to show you Wilbur’s thingy.” He huffed, rubbing his cheek while an embarrassed heat rose in his cheeks, causing them to become dusted pink. 

The knife had clattered the floor in the brief commotion, and Tubbo’s eyes went wide as he picked it up, “Holy shit! This is Wilbur’s? Where’d he get a jagdkommando knife?!” 

“What sound just came out of your mouth.” 

Tubbo turned it over in his hands, feeling proud of himself for remembering the word, since it was one that was always harder for him to read with his dyslexia, “It’s a tri-dagger knife.” He laughed a bit with Tommy’s comment, “They’re usually pretty trash and garbage when made from most metals, and if you don’t know how to use them right, because they can be really difficult to handle. My question is just where did he get it?” 

“I dunno, ask him.” 

He waved said boy over, a faint pink handprint had started to form on his cheek. Tubbo’s face flushed with a mix of guilt and embarrassment. Wilbur looked between them stifling a snicker as he plucked it from Tubbo’s hands, and handed it back to Tommy. Which was probably not the most responsible thing to do.

“It’s a blade of demon origin. Humans oft use the same craft, but different materials, which is why yours will often break when trying to emulate this kind of knife. Plus they tend to lack the strength to properly use them.” 

“I have strength! I bet I could use it no problem.” Tommy boasted. 

He got two dubious looks as a response, “Maybe but you’re holding it wrong.” he moved over, and gingerly adjusted his grip on the hand, “And you have to be able to twist it in the flesh to get real damage.” 

“Question Big W.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Have you ever used it?” The blonde asked as he swished it around, and Tubbo backed away from him. 

Wilbur was quiet for a long moment before he answered, “Yes.” 

“Cool.” He handed it back to Wilbur. 

It vanished as easily as it had appeared, and he got a warm smile from the oldest, “You seem to have liked it.” 

“Of course I do! It stabs shit, and apparently it’s really good at it.” 

Both nodded and a peaceful silence settled over them as Tubbo sat back down in his seat. Wilbur plopped down on the couch, on the opposite side of Tubbo and seemed lost in thought. He was chewing his lip slightly as he seemed to be thinking, but before Tommy could ask what was on his mind, Wilbur spoke hesitantly. 

“Would you like to learn how to properly use it?” 

“Uh, duh yes!” 

“Do you have a training range around here?” 

“I’m not sure, Tubbs do we?” 

Tubbo perked hearing his name, “Technically yes, but it’s the hunters property. I could give you my keycard. . .” He looked between the two pausing briefly. 

“Gimme!” 

Tubbo laughed a bit, honestly probably just as nervous as Wilbur was sending a demon straight into a hunter’s hot spot. Almost literally sending him straight into the lion's den, except Wilbur was no David. 

“No stabbing real people Tommy.” He half jokingly warned. 

Wilbur laughed with him, and rested a hand on Tommy’s shoulder as the latter was handed the keycard. Tommy knew there was probably a lot of risk going through with this, but his excitement was getting the better of him. . like usual. So he pocketed the card and practically bounced towards the door as Tubbo sighed. 

“They know you pretty well Tommy since you tend to join me and Finn a lot, so I doubt they’ll stop you with my card. Even if they do know Wilbur is uh. .yeah, I don’t think they’ll worry since he’s not a high level threat.” 

That last comment made Tommy nervous as well now. They might not know Wilbur was a high level threat, but he did. He said a quick goodbye as he dragged Will from the dorm, skipping out the door. 

The two walked in mostly pure silence as Tommy led the way to the building. While he was trying to hide it, he could clearly see the concern and anxiety on the other’s face. But that was mostly because he’d gotten to know Wilbur, so he knew the subtle cues and shift in expressions that indicate the other’s mood. As they arrived to most they’d both look casual and calm, but the demon was on high alert. 

The building was large, but also easily blended in with the many other office buildings and apartments around. Which allowed it to be inconspicuous, and most wouldn’t have the slightest clue that it was home to a massive training arena and dozens of demon hunters. The pair walked inside, and Tommy scanned in Tubbo’s card. They weren’t stopped even once as they made their way towards one of the smaller training arena’s. Once inside the space, Wilbur closed the door behind them, and resummoned his knife. This time when he handed it over to Tommy, there was no hesitation. 

“First things first, show me how you hold it.” 

Tommy nodded, and when he took it, he held it like a sword. He shook his head, and helped him adjust his grip, so it was more like holding an ice pick, then stepped to the side. 

“That’s technically right, but it’s most effective like that, now try it.” 

There were several straw filled dummies lined on the other side of the room. Tomm swung it around a few times experimentally as he held it how he’d been shown. Before he started moving towards the target dummies, it was stabby stabby time. Wilbur had moved to the side, giving Tommy plenty of berth and space with the knife. 

“All in the arms, thrust and twist.” Wilbur called from the sideline. 

He snickered slightly at the possible dirty joke. But did his best as he lunged towards the closest mannequin. The knife was certainly awkward for one who was inexperienced, but it easily plunged into the material that made up the dummy, and with the twist it shredded the faux skin creating a large triangular shaped hole. Normally under man-made construction, it would’ve been a far blunter tip, and would risk having the tip snap off with just a single twist. But this was made of magic, and made from demon craftsmanship. The blade being made from Netherite over normal steels or titaniums. Tommy had to admit that the knife was awkward and almost clunky to use, but the results were amazing. He couldn’t hide his amazement and gaping mouth as he removed the knife from the dummy’s mimic chest.

“Wow,” He breathed softly in shock. 

Wilbur moved closer from the sideline, a look of pride on his face as he patted the shorter on the back laughing quietly, “It’s a pretty nasty knife isn’t it?” He moved towards the dummy, fingers grazing the wound left by it, “Hit the right spots, and they’ll drop before they can even have a chance to retaliate.” 

“What a nasty way to go,” He chuckled darky, “So what’s this thing made of anyways?” 

“Netherite. Incredibly rare, valuable, and only found in the Nether.” 

“That’s fair enough.” He nodded and handed the knife back. 

“You don’t want to keep trying?” 

“I can keep stabbing shit?” 

He snorted, “As long as that shit isn’t me or yourself, I don’t see why not.” 

He stepped away again, and settled on one of the benches to his left. This time with a bit more understanding, the blade felt a bit more balanced and less awkward now. Finding amusement, and enjoyment, he proceeded to tear into the dummy before him, absolutely relishing in its destruction. Wilbur was watching with mild amusement as Tommy grew more and more fluid with his motions. He didn’t step in again until the mannequin was in shambles compared to when they had started, and Tommy was panting slightly, sweaty from the workout he’d just given himself. 

“I’m impressed.” 

Tommy looked up, panting from exertion and speaking breathlessly, “Yeah? I showed that dude who’s boss.” 

“You certainly did, you’re actually pretty naturally skilled.” 

“Wait really?” He stood up straighter, feeling a sense of pride and smiling, “I mean - of course I am! I’m teeming with natural talent.” 

“I really do mean it. With a balanced blade, and practice you could be really good.” He assured, resting a hand on his shoulder again. 

“. . Thank you Will, I appreciate that. . .really.” 

He got a gentle smile, “Of course. But I should probably take my knife back before we leave.” 

“Oh right right, of course.” 

Once it was back in his hand, it vanished and melted away in a haze of violet as he spoke and opened the door, holding it open for Tommy, “Maybe we can get you one for you even.” 

“Really?!” He was bouncing in his shoes as they started to leave, “Can it look like yours?” 

“We’ll see. Mine wasn’t exactly forged, so it will be different no matter what.” 

He felt a slight twinge of disappointment, but pushed it away, “Oh I guess that’s fair. So how was yours made then?” 

“It. . .wasn’t,” He tried to explain, “Every demon has a weapon made for them by them in a sense. Each is completely unique and specialized to their owner and summonable. It’s the only real weapon other than magic that we have.” 

“Ohhhh that makes sense,” Tommy nodded, “But I can’t summon things, so I guess we have to make it?” 

“Well yeah, but I’ve learned how to forge, and well. . “ He was thinking aloud, “If I got my hands on some netherite scrap, I could make it. But the Nether isn’t exactly very friendly to humans.” 

“I thought you said it was super rare?” 

Wilbur smiled mischievously, “It _is._ It’s more rare than diamonds, but you really think a double agent of the council wouldn’t have one of the most valuable materials known?” 

“. . .fair. I’d have a stash if I were you.” 

He laughed, “I do, it’s not much, but it should be more than enough. Oh this will be fun.” He clapped his hands together. 

This adventure could easily be a pocket full of fun, or a dangerous and life risking mission. Maybe it was both, who knew? Certainly not Tommy, but that wasn’t about to stop him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think? Bad idea? Good idea? ;)


	5. A Blind Leap

Roughly a month had passed since Tommy and Wilbur started their combat training. Tubbo had taught Tommy some tricks he’d learned from hunters from time to time, but never as vigorously, or as long term as Wilbur was with him now. It had been around three or four months since the demon had first moved in as well. While initially shoving a top hunter, a human, and a prestigious demon under one rough seemed ridiculous, stupid even, somehow it had worked its way out. Tubbo grew to accept him as another presence in the house, much as he had adjusted after meeting Eret and Fundy, who both worked as undercover double agents for the hunters to keep humans safe from more dangerous demons, and their affairs. 

Wilbur wanted Tommy to prove that he wanted to learn combat. He wanted the boy to show him he was willing to be dedicated, to put in the effort and work to actually learn about knives. More than just how to use it as well, and both to his surprise, and enjoyment, Tommy had been more than happy to oblige. The two had worked late evenings on weekends, and through several spare hours during the day. Escaping either to the hunter’s arenas or to the old abandoned scrap yard about a fifteen minute walk from the college campus. Since the blond had shown how serious he was about learning knives, and getting one himself, they’d begun to discuss getting his own. 

Wilbur’s knife was fancy and all, but it was also clunky for the boy, too large in his hand, and too heavy for him especially with inexperience. He would perform leaps and bounds better with a properly weighted blade. So the pair had resolved that they would briefly travel to one of the forges within the Nether Fortress Wilbur worked in, and retrieve the materials needed, and from there they could return to the surface, and start work on his very own knife. It had taken a lot of persuasion (well. .begging and pleading) to convince Wilbur to let him tag along straight into the demon realm. But eventually the older boy had reluctantly agreed, and over time became more and more on board with it. Even having a plan for some magic they could use to keep the human safe while they almost literally walked into the devil's den. 

It was early morning, with the sun barely starting to ascend above the uneven horizon of trees in the distance. Faint pink beams of sunlight weakly trickled in through one of the broken blind slats in Tommy’s room. Wilbur quietly crept in, since Tubbo’s room was just across the hall, and shook Tommy’s shoulder to wake him .

“Tommy!” He whispered yelled, “Tommy wake up! Wake the fuck up!”

Tommy rolled over with a sleepy groan and batted the hand away, “What the fuck are you on about?” He yelled back in a hushed tone. 

The older had a cheeky grin as he shook him again just to tease him, shaking him like a snow globe, “Wake up, I wanna take you somewhere.” 

Tommy yawned and smacked his hand away, “Like on a date you creep?” 

Wilbur rolled his eyes enough it might have audible, “No you fucking dumbass, I’m taking you to my home.” 

“That sounds like a date dumbass.” 

“Well this dumbass says dates don’t usually give you knives.” He crossed his arms with a huff like an annoyed older sibling, “Do you want to go to the Nether or not?” 

“Knife? Nether? I’m up I’m up!” He was scrambling out of bed, suddenly very awake much to his amusement, “Hell yeah!” 

“Hush, or you’ll wake Tubbo! Now c’mon.” 

“Let me at least get dressed,” 

Wilbur nodded, and left the room, already having been dressed and ready to walk out the door. If he was being honest he was probably just as eager as Tommy to show him the Nether. He’d practiced the simple incantation that would help (hopefully) stave off the heat to be tolerable for the boy. Right now though, he was buzzing with excitement, only feeding off of Tommy’s own energy. Within a few minutes, the other emerged from his room, ready to go. 

“Lead the way big man.” 

Wilbur grinned and began leading the way, walking away from the campus and towards the simple paved trail that ran alongside the small stream that most people just simply called a river. Although the water was cold, slow, and shallow, so ‘the stream’ was probably being generous of a description. They got down to a small gap in the aspen trees and willows, the bank of the creek just beyond where they stood as he gestured for them to stop. 

The entire way there, Tommy had almost nonstop asked questions about the Nether, and what he should expect. When they arrived at their destination, he didn’t miss the look of disappointed confusion on the blond’s face. He frowned and asked. 

“Is this it?” 

Wilbur just nodded as a response, pursing his lips and removing his fingerless gloves, stuffing them into his coat pocket. He hadn’t really ever answered Tommy’s questions either, usually just saying  _ you’ll see _ and  _ just wait. _ He stepped around, looking at the ground and mud, which was littered with the dying leaves of the imminent fall season, as if he was looking for something. He stopped suddenly and raised his hands, pressing his palms against an invisible barrier. 

“What are you looking for - wait what’s that?” 

“Stand back.” 

He had just stepped up next to Wilbur with the warning, not really wanting to stand back. Whether he hadn’t realized, or just was ignoring Tommy, he wasn’t sure. But the older boy’s hands suddenly pulsed with a thick haze of black, blue, and violet magic. It was as if the very scene in front of him folded around where his hands were until the space erupted into a swirling mass of magic of the same colors. Tommy was thrown to the ground with the sudden blast of the portal opening, so Wilbur turned to help him back to his feet. He let him, and rubbed his head where he’d smacked a nearby tree.

“What the hell?! I told you stand back! Are you alright?” He was more concerned than actually upset as he went and helped Tommy back to his feet. 

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine.”

Wilbur was still concerned, he knew how even for demons the sudden rift pulse could not only knock you back, but also be painful. It wouldn’t leave damage sure, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. 

“You sure?” 

He nodded, stepping towards the older blinking heavily a few times, “Yeah. Let’s go man.”

Wilbur slowly nodded, and led him through the portal. As they stepped out, the scenery changed from a blue sky and fresh air to the acrid heat and red stones of the Nether. A massive and dark brick fortress sprawled out before them, it was beautiful in an odd darkly twisted way, with red arches, and the occasional strange and unusual red vines that seemed to be clinging to the cracks in the bricks and slowly growing downward from the ceiling. The entrance before them was nestled among crimson and violet trees that had glowing lights and mushrooms in their dense bloody red leaves. Instead of open sky, it was the dull red rock for anywhere that wasn’t covered with the bizarre foliage or the massive building. It was also hot, like inside of a furnace hot. 

Wilbur was looking around, tense and on high alert as he began to lead Tommy towards one of the entrances he knew was unguarded due to its limited and restricted access, with it being almost solely used by council members. Although Tommy was clearly already feeling the heat, slowing down slightly as he was led along, and sweating profusely. 

“Once we’re inside, I can cast the spell, and help with the heat.” 

“Right. . .sounds like a plan.” He was panting as he attempted to cool down in any way he knew possible. 

Will was half supporting and carrying him, desperate to get inside before either of them were spotted by a guard, or worse. The two slipped inside, and the heat seemed to back off a little, and as Wilbur pressed a palm on his shoulder, it eased more, but it was only to a tolerable level now. He was starting to feel sleepy, and was blinking heavily again. 

“Thought you said. . it was cooler.” He panted. 

He was mumbling something not in English before he removed his palm, and the heat was. .tolerable by this point now. He looked a mix of panicked, relieved, and guilty as he began leading Tommy again. 

“This was a bad idea. . .let’s just get in and out as soon as possible. I’m so sorry.” 

“Whatchu talkin bout?” He was leaning on him again, “Where’s - where’s your office man?” 

Wilbur was counting the glyphic numbers in his head as they passed several rooms, trying to pick up the pace a bit, but this proved difficult. He looked around, and spotted a pair of guards who were talking among themselves. He barely gave a glance before letting out a string of curses, and ducked into an office. He practically had to drag Tommy in and he pressed a finger to his lips. 

“Ssh.” He hissed. 

“Huh? What’s wrong?” 

“Patrol.” 

He was clutching the shorter boy, eyes trained on the doorway as he listened to the approaching voices. After the portal he would need a few minutes before he could make another one home, after all it was no small feat to travel across dimensions. His heart sank as he recognized the voices, it wasn’t a pair of just any guards. It was Dream and Schlatt. 

He turned his attention briefly back to the blond, who seemed to be doing a bit better now thankfully. He nodded and kept his mouth shut but looked like he wanted to protest as Wilbur pushed him under the desk to hide. It was close to the wall, so as long as they were careful. He cursed himself for leaving the door open to the room, but it was too late now. He moved and shifted to his more natural form as he blocked Tommy from view. His tail curling around Tommy’s wrist slightly. They could only pray the two would continue on and not stop, let alone stop in the room. Of course their prayers either were ignored or unheard. 

The footsteps stopped, and Dream was standing in the doorway. His grinning mask hid any sort of expression beneath it, but his pearly white horns protruded from his mussed blond hair. Even with the mask, his green intense eyes still bore through it. Schlatt was at his side, and tilted his head. 

“Oh, Wilbur, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” 

He did his best to keep his tone even and calm as he spoke, “Ah Schlatt, Dream! I wasn’t expecting to run into you two either honestly. Irony isn’t it?” 

“What are you doing here? Didn’t you leave already for the day?” The ram man was clearly annoyed. 

He could feel Tommy start to lean against his leg and the desk. His mind was racing wild with possibilities, and the boy undoubtedly was injured, but if he passed out. . . He put the thought out of his mind he didn’t want to think about what if’s right now. Two of the most dangerous, and highest ranking demons blocked their only exit. 

“Oh yeah, I realized I left something of mine, and figured I had probably just dropped it in the halls or something, so I figured I would check the lost and found.” 

Dream’s head tilted slightly, his pointed and long ears twitching slightly as he tutted quietly, “Perhaps you should be more careful. After all, the co-advisor of the council, looking clumsy? That’s not a good look for anyone.”

The green and white demon had never approved of Wilbur’s status as a member of the council. He was more than capable for holding his position he did, but he also knew the older boy looked down on him for how he had gotten there. But that was a part of his past he wanted to leave in the past. 

Tommy had become completely unconscious at this point, and was slumped against Wilbur, preventing him from moving at all without exposing the human hiding under the desk. Schlatt was frowning at him for several heart pounding minutes before shrugging. 

“Whatever, get what you lost.” 

He nodded, “Yeah, of course, sorry for the mistake.” 

His tone was neutral, but he was terrified in his core. He had to shift his weight to keep Tommy hidden and prevent him from falling onto the floor. One slip up would end it all, and he knew this. Dream however, didn’t seem as willing to just drop the subject, his piercing eyes narrowing. 

“What exactly did you lose again?” 

He tensed, but quickly fished for an answer, “Oh, uh, my talisman for the surface travel. Since you know how draining portals are even on the best of us.” He laughed calmly, speaking firmly. 

Schlatt was annoyed at this mini pit stop, and huffed, and his expression suddenly shifted and Wilbur knew he was fucked. The head demon had picked up on it.  _ Fear _ . 

“Wilbur,” The goat demon spoke coldly, “What are you  _ really _ doing here?” He took a step forward. 

He cursed himself mentally, and tried to mellow himself out, “I told you, looking for my talisman. I probably lost it in one of these pockets. Really should fix this old coat up.” He tried to play it off with a smile. 

Schlatt smiled as well, but the sinking feeling told him it was for a very different reason, “Yes. Yes you should. Dream, say, when was the last time we took a walk through this room?’

He moved towards Wilbur again, folding his arms behind his back. Dream was picking up exactly what was being put down and followed with ease inside the room, lingering in the doorway so he still barricaded the only exit. His expression was hidden, but you could still hear the devilish grin he undoubtedly sported. WIlbur shifted backwards, leaning more on the desk, knowing protesting would only make this worse. 

“I think it’s been a few weeks sir.”

“What game are you playing Schlatt?” Wilbur frowned, “Do you have no trust in me?” 

He walked past him and was looking about the room, “Of course I trust you Wilbur, but you’re acting suspicious, and you know how I feel about being suspicious.” 

“Good to know nothing’s changed.” He scoffed. 

His grip tightened slightly on the desk, the reddish maroon wood digging into his palms. He was thankful that Tommy was small enough to fit under it, but his knuckles were still white. If he couldn’t get his anxiety to just shut the fuck up, he’d make things worse, and the ram would undoubtedly start picking up on it. But that didn’t matter, since he already had picked up on it anyways, which is why he was inspecting the room. 

“Dream, what is it I have to do today?” He asked casually. 

Tommy groaned quietly under the desk, and Wilbur fake coughed to cover it up. His hands were trembling from the quiet sound, both in fear of being caught, and in concern for the boy beneath the desk. Dream answered calmly from the doorway where he was using his height and bulk to be a doorway. 

“Hm, well there is still the meeting with the fallen boy, and his offer. But that isn’t for several hours, so I’m certain you have plenty of time until then.” 

Wilbur tried to steer the conversation, “Is there something you’d like me to attend?” 

Schlatt had no evidence against him, other than the sense of Wilbur’s anxiety, so he sighed and faced him, “Not really no.” 

He narrowed his eyes, “Then what are you doing? Last I checked you don’t randomly search rooms unless you’re looking for a victim.” 

“Like I said you’re being suspicious, how about you just go find your talisman, and then we can all go about our days.” 

“I’m only acting like that because you startled me, and you and I aren’t exactly on the happiest of terms when we split last.” He huffed with the half truth, “And I said I was looking for it here, remember?” 

“Fine, I’ll leave you to your search.” He shrugged and headed towards the door, beckoning for his guard, “C’mon Dream.”

Dream seemed entirely pissed with this resolution, shooting a bristling look towards the other council member as Schlatt passed him. He turned to leave with a low growl, but didn’t argue. WIlbur couldn’t help but sigh in relief, shoulders slumping as the two men left. By proxy he also had shifted slightly away from the desk and Tommy. Which caused the blond to tumble sideways. 

In panic he hissed and managed to catch him with his leg awkwardly, praying Schlatt wouldn’t turn around. Of course as luck would have it, the ram had turned to ask Dream something as they left when he spotted the blond head of hair. His red eyes glowed, a twisted and wicked grin spread on his face. 

“So Wilbur. . .this is what you’ve been hiding.” 

Wilbur’s behavior and stance instantly shifted from defensive to aggressive, a deep rooted instinct over taking him in a need to protect the human that was behind him. He put himself in front of Tommy entirely again and snarled lowly. 

“Fuck off Schlatt, this has nothing to do with you.” 

“Oh but I think it does. Especially when my co advisor tries to smuggle a human straight into the capitol. Don’t try and act like you can take us both on Will, it will end badly for you.” 

He bristled, and his lip curled around his fangs, “Just let us leave and we can put this behind us, he’s just a kid.” Even if he was able to take down Schlatt, there was no way in Styx he would be able to take on Dream. 

“Why did you bring him here?!” He shouted, “HE’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.” Schlatt now got in Wilbur’s face and growled deeply, “You know damn well he’s not, whether or not he’s a kid.” 

“I can do what I fucking want,” he spat back, “You aren’t above me!” 

“I AM ABOVE YOU.” He barked and shoved Wilbur. 

Schlatt wasn’t above violence, and probably had every intention of setting Dream on him like some overly obedient dog. Wilbur stumbled backwards as he was pushed, hitting the desk and tripping over Tommy, sending him sprawling and exposing the boy to the two demons. He winced at the blow, but scrambled back to his feet and swung at the goat. 

“Go fuck yourself!” 

Tommy hit the floor with a soft pained groan, and his eyes fluttered open, “Wilbur. . .” 

A malicious grin spread on his face as Schlatt bent and grabbed the exposed boy with a cloven clawed hand, “Well how about we fuck you up hm?” 

Wilbur snarled like an animal, and lunged at Schlatt without hesitation. His fist was aflame with blue fire and he swung again, this time not missing the other’s nose, he may not fight often, but he hadn’t kept his seat in the ranks over nothing, and he wasn’t about to let Tommy get hurt because of him. 

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” 

Schlatt stumbled backwards, hooves clopping loudly as he regained his balance and grabbed Wilbur’s arm, and flung him to the side, “Make me.” He hissed in response. 

Tommy slowly sat up, and opened his eyes blinking a few times drunkenly. Dream however, was sitting back half amused by the spat that was going on between the two councilmen. Of course, he was more than ready to jump in with a command, but at the same time, while he was sided with Schlatt, both men fighting were highly respected, and highly ranked. The two highest powers in their government were in a fist fight. Wilbur cried out as he was slammed against the wall, but clawed at the other. 

His blow landed true again, and dug into soft fur and skin, “I fucking will.” 

Schlatt bleated with pain and kicked at Wilbur’s stomach to free himself from the other demon. He glowered at Dream for a moment, “Stop looking like a dumbass and do something! Get the boy!” He turned back to Wilbur. 

Dream shrugged, and easily lifted Tommy by his shirt, dangling him in the air as he inspected the human with mild curiosity. Wilbur’s attention snapped to the soldier seeing the movement in the corner of his eye, and with Schlatt briefly distracted, he summoned his knife, panting as he tried to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. 

“Hey pussy!” He barked at the goat. 

That got his attention as he whipped around, “Leave. Last warning.” 

Wilbur saw his opening and took it. On the ground he wasn’t as retrained as before, so he lashed out and struck Schlatt in one of his ankles with the spiral blade. He quickly got to his feet, his chest protesting in a white flame of pain, having undoubtedly broken a rib or two. He snatched Tommy from a now startled Dream as he sent a pulse of magic fire to fend Dream off from immediately retaliating. 

Wilbur’s hand went to his pocket, where it grazed a cold canister he’d gotten. He knew what it was without even seeing it.  _ Table Salt _ . A last minute and desperate resort, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He retrieved it and held it out, the open cap spilling some on his hand, and he had to force himself not to drop it with the sudden searing pain. 

“I’m taking him home, and you won’t stop me.” He snarled, tail lashing behind him as he stood between Dream and Tommy. 

“Dream leave with them.”

With one hand he held out his knife, and the other the salt. He began taking slow steps backwards to the doorway, “Fuck off Dream or I’ll gut you.” 

He wasn’t one for threats normally, but seeing Tommy hurt, having their lives threatened? Well that put some new items on the table for him. Dream began to move towards them, a dark look on his face, so acting instinctively, he threw some of the salt towards Dream. Dropping the bottle as it spilled on his hand again. The soldier gave a hideous shriek of pain as it hit one of his arms, backing away, and Wilbur took his chance. Using his non-burned hand he grabbed Tommy and began running. Schlatt was still on the ground, clutching his bloody ankle from the stab wound, and didn’t attempt to stop him this time. Tommy was still pretty dazed, but was clinging to Wilbur rather tightly as they ran.

“What’s going on?” He croaked, his throat was dry and hoarse. 

Tommy needed medical attention, between the blast causing him to hit the tree earlier, and the heat of the nether, he was being put through some pretty harsh conditions. He had a nasty concussion, and was suffering from heatstroke, which would only worsen the longer he remained in the intense heat. Wilbur was biting back tears that threatened to spill in pain from his several wounds and now burns. He couldn’t answer, his heaving chest sending shock waves of pain with every breath as they ran. They pelted across the basalt deltas, and this time the older couldn’t stop the quiet whimper of pain from the salt stones occasionally grazing his skin. 

They were close to the bounds, which would be able to lead them straight back to where they had first stepped through. The portal of the Bounds was just ahead, and Tommy was able to mostly run on his own. No longer severely leaning on Wilbur. He turned back to see the demon lose his footing and pitch forward. 

He fell forward, and tumbled to the ground, face getting sprayed with debris, and he quickly got back up and pushed Tommy through the portal, forcing both of them across and back into the overworld, where the opening to the Nether collapsed behind him. 

He was holding Tommy tightly as he staggered into the Overworld, and then let go of him collapsing to his knees and heaving as his body tried to breathe and rationalize the pain he was in at the moment. Tommy fell at his side as well, sighing against the blast of cool air and closing his eyes as he lay down. 

“Nether. . . Nether is shit.” He mumbled as he rubbed his head. 

Wilbur nodded weakly, his one arm was bloody, and his hand an angry red against his mottled skin, clearly severely burned. He put his head in his hands, his nose was bleeding, and probably broken. His vision blurred with exhaustion, and his head spun with the magic he’d been forcing himself to use. Tommy was lucid enough to see how horrid the other looked, and sat up on his elbows. 

“You are. . .you’re bleeding, what just happened?” 

Wilbur moved to stand, and staggered, leaning on one of the nearby trees, eyes closing as he tried to catch his breath, “I’ll explain later. Call . .Call Tubbo. . 911. .something.” 

It took him a few long moments to process what he was being asked to do, but then did as he was told. He fished his phone from his pocket, and managed to call Tubbo. Somehow managing a semi-lucid conversation to portray his need for medical attention. His speech was slurring together and his consciousness was fading as he sat on the line with his best friend. 

  
  


Soon they were able to get an ambulance down the trail, with Tubbo at Tommy’s side, and Wilbur had vanished somewhere, since he was still unable to camo, he was probably hiding. Not that human medicine could probably do very much for him anyways. Tommy stirred slightly as Tubbo was at his side as he was loaded into the emergency vehicle. 

“Hey Tubsters… “

Tubbo sighed in relief seeing his friend awake, and returned the small smile Tommy had given him, “Hey big T, we’re going to the hospital, don’t worry.” 

“Hmmm? I thought we were going to the Nether?” He mumbled quietly and took Tubbo’s hand squeezing slightly. 

“Wh-what? What are you talking about?” 

“The Nether. . .me and Will. We were gonna make a knife, I think. . . I think. . .” He trailed off staring up at the vehicle ceiling as the paramedic administered some fluids for him, “Schlatt. I met Schlatt.” 

Tubbo paled, but thankfully the paramedics didn’t seem to be paying attention to his babbling, “Schlatt. . ?” he asked softly, “Wilbur has a lot to explain.” 

“Dream dropped me too,” He giggled quietly, looking to the paramedic, and then back to Tubbo, “I think Will and I were gonna go on a date. Weird right?” He was starting to feel better, and looked better too, breathing easier. 

Tubbo was still tense, but laughed quietly, “A date huh? That does sound weird.” 

The two were taken to the hospital, and thankfully Tommy’s injuries weren’t too severe. He had a bad concussion, but it could’ve been a lot worse too, especially for what had happened. So after he got rehydrated, some food, and pain meds he was able to head home. By now it was the following morning though when they released him from the hospital. Tubbo worked with him to try and piece together the story, which proved difficult between his splitting headache, and having passed out more than once during the trip. So Tommy told him as much as he remembered. 

“Then Wilbur fought this horned guy, Schlatt, and then took me from the green eyed dude, then we left.” He rubbed his forehead. 

Tubbo was quiet for several moments, “Tommy. . .you. . .” he was clearly thinking over his words, “You met Schlatt, the head of demons, the first councilman, well I mean he has some advisor who’s almost entirely anonymous, but. . .and Dream? The fucking juggernaught? I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“I wouldn’t say  _ okay _ , but I’m alive, my head fucking hurts. Where is Wilbur anyways?” 

“He’s home, he was talking in nonsense, he looked pretty beat up though.” 

“I know he was bleeding when we came back I think?” Tommy sat up, “Look when we see him, don’t be hard on him okay?”   
  


“I can’t promise that, but. . .you two were really dumb, and also really lucky.” Tubbo sighed as he sat back in his chair. 

“So, what does it matter? We’re fine now.” 

“It matters because it was stupid!” Tubbo retorted in concern, “Neither of you have a clue about guards, or council!” 

“Wilbur seemed to know what he was doing. . .” 

“I don’t care if he acts smart! Neither of you have any sort of negotiating power, which is probably why you were both hurt!” 

Tommy wanted to correct him, he really did, but he remembered that Wilbur didn’t want him to know he was on the council. So he looked away and the two of them fell quiet as they waited for the release papers to be brought back so they could head home. 

“Is something wrong? Other than your probably massive headache.”

“Yeah. . .I mean there’s a lot, but I - nevermind.” 

Tubbo reached out and put a hand on him, “You can talk to me you know.” 

He sighed and nodded, “Yeah, I know but this isn’t exactly a normal secret.” 

“Is it ever?” He half joked. 

Tommy smiled and chuckled quietly, “Well. . Wilbur’s on the council.” 

Tubbo pursed his lips, “. . .oh I. . I can’t believe he so blatantly lied to us.” 

“I mean he was pretty upfront about being a demon, and it’s not like he ever said he was a low rank. . .he just never y’know said he was higher either.” 

“Yeah you’re right.”

After being discharged Tommy let Tubbo drive him home. He wanted to check up on Wilbur, as well as fill in the missing pieces as to what had happened down in that hell hole. Unfortunately Tubbo had an emergency with family, so he just dropped Tommy off before having to leave again. When Tommy walked in the dorm was completely silent, not even a single light was on. 

“Wilbur?” He called as he flicked on a few lights hoping the other was just asleep or something, “Hey man you home?” 

He only got more silence as an answer, but he could see Wilbur’s door was opened, which never happened unless the demon was home, and in his room. His brown coat was also slung over the back of the couch, Other than that, it didn’t seem that anyone was home other than Tommy. So he picked up the coat, and made his way towards the other’s room, still having a mild headache. 

“Hey man why’s it so dark in here?” 

He still got no response, but there was a sleeping lump on the bed, it was Wilbur wrapped in a ball, with his tail curled around himself, and seemed to be out cold. So he went over and gently shook the older boy in hopes to wake him. 

“Hey man, Wilbur? You breathing?” 

He was in fact breathing thankfully. But the only response he got was the subtle twitch of one of his slightly longer pointed ears. 

“Wilbur!” He spoke louder and shook him harder trying to wake his friend. 

A rumbling whine came from him, and Tommy could see that instead of his usual sweater, he was wearing a simple t-shirt, which exposed the several wounds along his arms, as well as bruises and his badly burned hand. He didn’t seem to have any life threatening wounds, but he was still completely unresponsive. 

“Dammit Wilbur.” He whispered seeing the state of his friend.

He quickly decided that the other should be awake so that way he could help with his wounds, but shaking him hadn’t worked. . .

“I’m sorry buddy.” He mumbled as he took one of Wilbur’s damaged hands and squeezed it a bit, hoping the pain would be enough to wake him up. Sure enough it was, and Wilbur jerked awake with a yelp. He curled into himself and away from Tommy as he hissed in pain. He briefly opened one eye, but closed it again after a moment. 

“Hey. .I’m sorry pal. I’m so sorry. What happened?” He lightly rested a hand on an undamaged part of his arm. 

Wilbur sighed as he looked up towards Tommy, but stiffened slightly, only to close them again, “I got us out.” He rasped quietly. 

“I. . I know, thank you.” He couldn’t help the alarm that was raised hearing his voice, was it just exhaustion? Dehydration? Or was he hurt more than he thought? 

He smiled slightly, “Yeah. . .damn I forgot how much salt hurt.” He laughed dryly, no real humor behind it. 

“Is that why your hand is burned?” 

Wilbur nodded slowly, and carefully sat up, “Yeah. . .can you turn on a light? I want to make sure nothing is infected or needs stitches and its super dark.” His breathing evened out now, “Just turn on a light.” 

“Yeah, let me just - “ He hopped up and flicked on the over head light, squinting against it but settled back beside Wilbur. 

He was rubbing his head and rolled his eyes as he heard Tommy get up, and sit back down, “Very funny Tommy.” He said sarcastically. 

“What?” He was confused as he looked over his wounds, “Nothing is broken is it?” 

“Maybe my ribs. . but there’s not much.” He paused a moment, and sighed, “Tommy, this isn’t funny.” 

“What’s not funny?” 

“Turn the fucking light on Tommy, now is not a time to be joking around like that.” 

Tommy’s heart sank, as he spoke slowly and confused, “Wilbur. . .the light is on.”


	6. It's So Dark

The words struck him like a blunt object over the head. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t believe it. His heart felt like it was pounding loud enough in his ears to rival the drums of an army. He shook his head, his skin burned still, painful from fresh wounds and burns, and his cheeks. His cheeks and eyes hurt like hell, to move, to speak, to do anything. The skin stinging like a thousand needles at once all preheated in the oven, and he hated it. A part of him just wanted to close his eyes, and wake up for real, in reality, where he and Tommy would be okay, where this right now was just a bad dream. 

“Wilbur the light is on. . .” Tommy said softly, sounding a mix of confused and concerned as he spoke, “Can. . .can you not see at all?” 

He frowned, “Tommy, now isn’t the time to be fucking with me. Turn the light on, seriously.” 

There was silence that greeted him for a moment, and he tried to look around the room. To see anything as he begged his eyes to adjust to the dark, but no matter how hard he strained, nothing but emptiness greeted him. Not even fuzzy details like when he and Tommy had stumbled through the portal from the Bounds. 

“Wilbur I am being serious, the light is on, is it still dark?” He could hear the blond shift beside him. 

He couldn’t see anything. Unbeknownst to him, Tommy was waving a hand directly in front of Wilbur, the room bathed in a mix of sunlight and the overhead ceiling light, and yet Wilbur was completely unresponsive to the hand just inches from his face. 

“. . .What?” His voice raised in worry as reality set in, “No. . .no it's still pitch black.” 

Tommy was officially freaking out as well, “Did you get salt in your eyes?” 

The bounds. 

He’d fallen in the Delta’s, he’d fallen and skidded, getting the debris in his face. The Delta’s were laced with salt, the mineral a very part of the stones, and he’d gotten it in one of the most sensitive places possible. Wilbur was still feeling exhausted, and his brain felt sluggish with it, as well as pain nullifying most of his logical thinking. 

“The Delta’s,” He mumbled quietly, raising a hand experimentally towards his own face. “I. . .I fell, those stones are made of salt. . . why?” He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to know why. 

“Because the light is on, you can’t see a thing, and I just waved my hand in your face and you didn’t smack the shit out of me.” 

“No. . no.” This wasn’t happening, he didn’t want it to be real. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t see. He couldn’t see. 

He blinked a few times, but he couldn’t focus on anything, there was nothing to focus on. He rubbed his eyes, he pleaded internally, and as he opened them again slowly, fighting against the burning pain still on his cheeks and eyes, there was. . .nothing. 

Tommy waved his hand in Wilbur’s face again, and then moved it forward until he touched the older’s nose, who jumped, caught off guard by the contact clearly. 

“Did you see that?” He asked quietly. 

His hands were shaking as he shook his head, “No, I can’t. . . I can’t see anything. I can’t fucking see.” 

Fear etched his voice, and he couldn’t stop it. His composure was unraveling with the realization, and he couldn’t even bring himself to calm down. His whole world had just been forcefully ripped out from under him, and he felt lost. The blackness in his sight felt appropriate with how lost he suddenly felt. Tommy’s hand rested on his arm from the emptiness, a slight sense of warmth. 

“Do you. . .like - can you heal at all? Or is this permanent?” 

“I don’t know.” He said honestly, and for the first time ever, tears welled up in his eyes as he sat with Tommy, he never let himself cry around others usually, and as he spoke his next words, his voice was barely a hoarse whisper, “I’m blind aren’t I?” 

“Let’s. . let’s not focus on that, here, sit up,” Tommy kept a hand on him as he talked. 

Wilbur obliged, and brought himself to a proper sitting position at the end of the bed, and rested his hands on his lap. It hurt, so much hurt from his brief fight with Schlatt, and the salt, and the Delta’s. Not to mention creating a portal and what he’d done to try and keep Tommy safe during the trip to Nether. He heard, and felt, Tommy shuffle closer so their shoulders were touching. He closed his eyes, not that it made a difference, trying to force away the hot tears that had begun to fall. 

“How long until you feel better?” 

“Depends. . .a few days maybe? By then I should be able to heal most of the wounds.” He gingerly and slowly brought his good hand to his face, the skin stung at the light contact, “The burns will take longer.” 

And I’ll never be able to heal my eyes. He didn’t speak his thoughts, but he knew it was true. One thing about any Creator’s magic, is that it needed some level of scientific biology behind it. Just as you can’t just regenerate a limb, neither could a demon. Damaged corneas, and eyes didn’t repair themselves, and so no healing magic could bring his sight back. There were exceptions, but those places were rare, few and far between, and took such extreme levels of magic and or enchantments they were hardly sustainable without something non living behind it. 

“Well we’ll see where we stand then.” Tommy pulled him from his thoughts. 

He laughed dryly at the wording, “Yeah.” 

Three days passed, and Wilbur barely left his room. He knew logically it wasn’t healthy, that he should try and start adjusting, and yet, he just couldn’t. He let himself rest for most of the first day, since it was Friday anyways, and slept for most of the day. Most of his surface wounds, and lacerations caused from the goat had healed, or were gone entirely. At the moment, it was Monday morning, and he was lying on his side, staring blankly at the wall. His tail curled close around himself as he idly thread his fingers through the coarse fur. His tail tip twitching occasionally as he let his mind wander and swim in his own thoughts. The light was off at the moment, not that he needed it anymore. 

Since he didn’t actually know the lighting of the room, if someone had come in (basically only Tommy since Tubbo was ‘busy with the hunters’ all weekend) and left the light on, he’d not turn it off, and was probably unable to do it without notable difficulty anyways. Every day Tommy had come in to check up on his demon friend, and even with school, today was no exception. He knocked gently on the door to get Wilbur’s attention before walking in. 

“Hey man, how are you feeling today?” 

He tensed briefly, before registering who it was and calming back down as he brought himself to a sitting position. His hair was a mess, and he was just wearing a simple sweater and jeans, and for the most part, he looked far healthier, save for the blank and unfocused stare. Since he’d spent so long in his room the last few days, everything in it had that gentle woodsmoke scent to it. 

“About as good as I can be.” 

“I assume that isn’t the best.” Tommy stated as he sat down on the edge of his friend’s bed, the mattress sinking slightly with his weight, “Anything hurt still?” 

Honestly, Tommy genuinely enjoyed the soft sweet scent, although he still wished he could experience it in a more pleasant situation. Although he’d never ask about, or admit, to wanting that.Wilbur gave a small smile, doing his best to try and follow Tommy’s path through the room judging off of his voice, but was still slightly caught off guard by Tommy sitting down on the bed. 

“No, I’m fine today. . .just. . . I don’t think -” He stopped himself, irrationally thinking if he said it aloud it would confirm his own fears. 

“What is it? What don’t you think?” 

“I don’t think I will ever see again.” 

“Are - are you sure?” He couldn’t see Tommy’s face, but he could hear the sadness. 

He shook his head, “I. . .I’m not certain, but salt is just so damning for my kind, and the fact that I got it in my eyes, of all places. . it just. . .Yeah.” 

“There’s gotta be a way to get you better.” He heard the younger insist, who also probably blamed himself for what had happened. 

“Tommy this isn’t your fault.” He spoke firmly, “Whether or not there’s a fix, this isn’t your fault.” 

“Sure as hell feels like it is. I wish we never went to the Nether.” Tommy shifted at the end of the bed.

“I shouldn’t have brought you, especially straight into the figurative lions den.” He reached out carefully, fumbling for a moment as he rested a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, “Plus unless you’re the one responsible for every single basalt stone, I can assure you this isn’t your fault. Have you talked about this to Tubbo yet?” 

“Yeah, as much as I remember at least.” Tommy leaned on him with a quiet sigh, “I’m so sorry Wilbur, whether or not this is my fault.” 

He relaxed at the contact, in the sudden world of darkness, the warmth was a gentle comfort, an anchor to reality that felt so distant now. He leaned slightly on Tommy as well, and for once he was incredibly grateful for their brotherly relationship he’d developed with the younger. 

“It’ll be okay, how much do you remember then?”

“After you shoved me under the table? Not much. Bits and pieces, small conversation snippets kinda thing.” He sighed deeply. 

Wilbur laughed a little, “Yeah Dream and Schlatt walked by, and I panicked. I didn’t hurt you did I?” 

“Nah other than a few bruises and my head I’m fine. Well maybe my pride.” He joked and wrapped an arm around Wilbur in a side hug, “Thank you for getting me out of there, seriously. Do you plan on going back?” 

He honestly hadn’t even given that a second thought over the last several days. He’d been so caught up in trying to adjust to the sudden plunge into black and memorizing his own living space, it had completely slipped his mind. He was hesitant to answer. 

“I don’t know, I’ve not given it much thought honestly, but even if I returned there’d be a punishment for what I did.” 

“Then don’t go. Stay here with me and Tubbo, there’s no reason to go back then.” 

“I don’t think I will, this place. . .this place is home for me.” 

One could easily hear the happy grin on Tommy’s face, “I’m glad you think so.” 

Wilbur chuckled a bit and opened his eyes, pausing for a moment, seemingly surprised as he started to speak, but interrupted himself, and his hand on Tommy’s arm tightened slightly. Tommy’s smile started to fade, suddenly worried that something was wrong. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Wilbur blinked a few times, and sat up straighter seeming a bit confused as he pulled away from Tommy for a moment so they were no longer touching. Then he reached out again, hand resting on his arm, before pulling it away again. He did it a few more times, which just made Tommy more confused, this was strange even for the demon boy. He leaned away a bit from the other as he spoke. 

“Wilbur. . .what are you doing?” 

“Wait! No.” He pleaded and reached out, grabbing Tommy’s arm lightly, “Don’t leave.” 

He pulled his hand away one last time before putting it back, and keeping it there this time. His expression was a blend of confusion, surprise, and concentration it seemed. He knew he was acting weird, but as the color to the world slowly faded back in with the contact, he was in nothing but pure shock. He tried looking around, but his vision didn’t move, and everything was hazy, and fuzzed around the edges. He didn’t want to lose it before he could fully understand, but he could feel the gentle hum of magic at his fingertips as he tried to look. 

“Can you look around the room?” He asked quietly. 

Tommy frowned, but decided to humor the older boy and his strange request as he looked around, occasionally pausing on the random knick knack, or book. 

“Will, what are you on about?” 

Tommy turned to look at Wilbur, which created a really bizarre out of body look as he looked at himself through Tommy’s vision, although it was blurry, and it was starting to become draining as well. This was only something he could keep up for a few minutes at a time, but he paused, and spoke as if he himself didn’t believe it. 

“I . . .can see. Damn I look like shit.” 

Tommy leapt to his feet, smiling brightly, but severing his physical contact, and the world vanished again in a snap, “You can see?! Just - just like that? How?!” 

“Wait!” Wilbur reached out, following Tommy slightly as he did so, and was unable to hide his disappointment as the blurred shapes fizzed out giving way to the increasingly familiar darkness, “No, I can’t see, but you can.” He tried to explain. 

He slowly sat back down in confusion, “What does that mean? I don’t speak cryptic.” 

“I can’t see, not with my own eyes. But I can see through you.” 

“What? Like.. .you can see everything I can?” 

He nodded slowly, “Yeah, but I think - “ he pulled his hand away as his suspicion was confirmed, “Only if I’m touching you.” 

The few colors visible were becoming increasingly duller, and he could feel the strain it was taking on his magic, so he relented and let the world fade away. He wanted to cling to that image, the blurry pictures, the faded colors, even his awful hair forever. Never did he think he’d appreciate sight as much as he just had. 

“Well you can just keep a hand on me then!” 

Wilbur shook his head, “I don’t think so, for one, you have college classes outside of mine, and I can’t exactly just follow you everywhere, and secondly, I can’t always do it, I can only do it temporarily.” 

“Then we can work on making it last together, I don’t want you to be blind forever.” 

He pulled Tommy into a warm hug, squeezing him slightly and smiling warmly, “We can figure it out in time.” 

“I know we will.” 

Tommy glanced at the clock, and realized he had only about fifteen minutes until his first morning class started, and jumped to his feet, but let his hand linger briefly on Wilbur’s shoulder. 

“Shit! Class, I completely forgot, will you be okay while I’m gone?” 

Wilbur nodded, feeling a bit better now, “I’ll be fine, shoo, plus I should at least try to shower, I don’t think even a rat would live in this nest.” 

Tommy laughed with the other, and lingered in the doorway for an extra moment, before leaving to finish preparing for the day’s classes, and slung his bag over his shoulder before rushing out. A part of him still worried about Wilbur, and him being alone all day when he couldn’t see anything, but he tried to put it out of his mind as he jogged to his first class of the day, maths. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a tamer chapter today


	7. Late Night Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning for this chapter: This chapter discusses past emotional manipulation, mental/physical and mild implied sexual abuse. This is in no way meant to paint Schaltt as an abuser, and in no way is me trying to reflect him as a person. I may even end up rewriting it in the future with an OC style character, on which this note will be rewritten. Secondly, this isn’t meant to ship them in any shape or form, I don’t ship them at all, and this wasn’t written as if it was a real relationship nor a healthy one. If anyone has concerns and raises them with me in any way, I will remove Schlatt from this chapter and rewrite it with an OC. I am aware of both creator’s stances on shipping as well. Now that that’s out of the way, there will be a summary at the end if you wish to skip this chapter. Without further ado here is chapter 7

Wilbur crawled into bed, tomorrow was Monday, and Tubbo had come home earlier in the day today, but he’d not bothered to greet the brunette. He didn’t care how it looked or sounded to the other, he didn’t want to break the news to the other boy, or discuss their Nether trip with him from his side of the story either. He felt exhausted and drained, having spent most of the day attempting to function on a semi normal level now, with plenty of noted difficulty to nobody’s surprise. As well as practicing using magic to see through Tommy, whether it was just Tommy, or anyone, or maybe just people he was close to, he wasn’t sure yet since nobody else even knew about this new situation. As of right now he was wearing a simple soft sweater and sweatpants that he’d managed to find. He didn’t even know if they matched, which bothered him more than it probably should have. 

He fumbled with his blanket for a few moments and as finally he tugged it over his body, he shifted from his human form, letting himself relax. His longer pointed ears drooped low, and his tail wrapped around himself as he curled into the soft mattress, and closed his eyes. . . not that he could tell the difference anyways. A part of him faintly wondered if he’d save more electricity now. It didn’t take long before he started to drift off to sleep though. 

Wilbur found himself walking along a dark nether brick pathway. The open ceiling of the red rock stretched above him, and to his far left he could see where the crimson trees ended and began to blend with the basalt deltas, and to his right were more tall walls of the fortress. Why was he out here again? He glanced around as he took a left, oh yeah, his first council meeting after he’d been put on it. Well at least with the low 7 that is. Above them was the 3 leaders of the council, and then the 2 advisors. . .which were basically the rulers. He slipped into his seat as a few cold and judgemental gazes flitted over him. He didn’t know very many, but he knew a few notable names on the lower 7. Such as Dream, Philza, Fundy, Techno, and Sapnap. Although with the exception of Philza, he didn’t know how they’d react to him, but their gazes currently were a good indicator of how to read the room.

He squared his shoulders and held his ground, but as they were waiting for the meeting to start and the last of the members to arrive, he could still overhear their murmuring, no matter how quiet they thought they were being. He tried to tune it out, and just ignore them, but he knew what they said about him. About him getting this position, him being here in the first place. He looked ahead, and pretended to not listen as he heard their words fill the silent air. 

  
  


_ What’s Schlatt’s little toy doing here? He belongs back home and locked away, not seated in that councilman’s seat. I heard he’s doing double favors for this job. Ha! Of course he would be, Schlatt only cares about his own pleasures. I bet he doesn’t even have a clue how to function on his own. His boy toy should’ve been fed to the Lights long ago.  _

Wilbur bristled at their venomous words, and his patience was running thin as they continued to openly mock him. With their last comment he snapped, “Enough! I have every right to be here!” 

An older looking demon grinned, and chuckled, “Oh look the toy has teeth you guys.” 

A cacophony of laughter rippled through the surrounding Creators, with the exception of two, Philza and a redhead. It was taking everything in him not to leap to his feet and stab the speaker though. The man was muscular, and his skin was a pale green spattered with milk white spots. He had a long thick white tail adorned with spikes that currently lay flat against the scales as it swayed behind him. His dirty blond hair fell in his eyes which were a piercing green. Several long scars gave the demon a permanent sneering expression. He was also wearing a dark neon green ish hoodie and black jeans. His horns were twisted in a spiral and pointed backwards in a low hook that followed the crown of his head. 

“Knock it off Dream.” Another one snapped, his fox ears flattened and his fiery red hair seemed to match his tone. 

It was Fundy, one of the older demons, and the fox that was over teaching a lot of early apprentices, as well as assigning them. Supposedly he was a soldier for Battalion image, but he couldn’t imagine the lanky furry boy with the blond side by side. Fundy was on the shorter side, and was wearing a black leather jacket with a flag stitched onto the breast pocket. His body was covered in fur, and he had a small pair of fangs that peeked out from his top lip. His fluffy orange and white tail was fluffed up behind him and twitching. Dream hissed quietly back at him, and Wilbur flinched half expecting a fight to break out. 

They weren’t supposed to ever fight while within the walls of these rooms, but he doubted that would stop the brute that was Dream. Dream was a few years younger than Schlatt, and other than Technoblade was one of the most respected fighters, he barely had a seat on the council, since he technically didn’t qualify, but nobody would dare challenge Dream or Schlatt on that decision. Even if he didn’t have an official one, he’d probably have some sort of honorary one just for his social standing down here.

“Stay out of it fox,” Dream spat back, “You know just as well as everyone else in this room, that some - some Mr Toy that is Schlatt’s little pleasure friend has no right to be here!” 

Wilbur growled, cutting off whatever Fundy may have said, “I have earned my right just as you guys to be here! I am just as worthy of a seat on the council as you Dream.” 

Dream bristled, and seemed perfectly happy and ready to stab him when the final two persons walked through the door. Those being Sapnap and Schlatt. The pair walked side by side, and were seated at the front of the room, which quickly silenced any arguments. Wilbur had to force his hands to not shake, knowing Schlatt would be furious if he had started a fight, so he folded them in his lap instead, keeping his mouth shut. Dream huffed a bit, shooting a final glare his way as he settled back into his seat, tail tip still twitching. 

“I hope you weren’t causing any problems Dream.” Schlatt raised an eyebrow as he settled into his seat. 

Dream scoffed, “I’m not the one at fault.” 

Schlatt’s crimson eyes narrowed, the slits darkening, “Dream, I would advise you to keep your mouth shut.” 

The green man’s lip curled slightly, but he didn’t rebuttal this time. 

There were two living creatures in all of the universe that could shut the arrogant man up. Those two were Technoblade, and JSchlatt. The two demons were the only ones who he seemed to have any respect for other than George, but that was an entire can of worms on its own since they were in a relationship. Plus even then George often bickered to get Dream to shut his trap during some moments, so it’s not like the boyfriend was 100% foolproof. 

Sapnap on the other hand, stuck out like a sore thumb among the gathering of Dark Creators. His relatively normal looks were a sharp contrast against the horned, winged, and some even scaled creatures around him. He was darker skinned, with a mix of greek, and little bit of stubble. His dark hair was pulled from his eyes with a white bandana, it was a bit poofy and unruly though. He was wearing a black long sleeve shirt with a white overshirt, which had a fire symbol on the chest. The only two indicators he was anything except human was his calmness with the blistering heat everywhere, and the glowing veins of fiery light that traced his skin. Currently his nails were painted black, and he had a charming grin as he sat back in his seat, arms laying behind his head. He had a small smirk plastered on his face, and his eyes were a bright orange, which seemed to gleam like flames when he made eye contact.

You see, Sapnap wasn’t like the rest of them currently gathered, in fact, he wasn’t even a demon at all. No, Sap was what they had deemed a ‘fallen’. A cursed Light who was turned without being marked whilst still alive. How these Light Creators were turned, nobody knew, but since they weren’t meant to be, and were supposed to die a normal death, they never fully changed over from a human to a creator. Regardless of being a Light or Dark. Sapnap had died, and within a year, had been brought back into a husk. An empty and almost lifeless body that had no soul, and yet still managed to wander the depths of the Nether Wastes. 

A husk would still move, and walk, and behave like a person. But they were ever silenced, the voiceless, the forgotten, the dead who weren’t ever  _ enough _ . The people who didn’t do anything with their lives, simply existing with the world until their times ended. Their soul, and their person were separated, leaving a shell of the person, a husk of what they once were. Hence the name. Sometimes though, husks had just enough life left in them to be inhabited. A body held together by magic beyond even the resident’s forces and control. 

But most of all, unlike Creators, or spirits, husks still were marred by their cause of death. Mortal wounds disrupted the gray flaking skin and told a story in the absence of words. The real reason Sapnap always wore a bandana, was to hide his death. Wilbur had seen it once, when he had been living with Philza and Xisuma, the three of them worked together, and still kept in contact. Sap had made a deal with Phil years ago, and at the time, he’d seen him without the white cloth. A pair of identical wounds glowed like lava on his temples, Frankenstiens monster style, he didn’t know if it was self inflicted by the husks first owner or not, but being shot through the head was a rough way to go either way. 

Schlatt cleared his throat as he got the room’s attention, and with that, his first meeting as a councilmember began. He was keeping notes, and as he left, a warm hand patted his back, causing him to look up and smile at Philza, who was also a part of the council. Although a sharp voice cut through the quiet moment. 

“Wilbur! Get your ass over here.” The ram barked, getting his attention. 

He winced, he knew that tone, but he had no choice. Fighting against it or protesting would only make whatever punishment in store for him worse. He quickly leapt to his feet and made his way over and his collar was grabbed and yanked upwards, being slammed into the wall, his head smacking the bricks with a sickening sound.

“You really think you can make a scene like that?” The man’s lip curled as he snarled, “I made you this, and I can just as easily take this way, you’re on thin fucking ice.” 

With that he was dropped, and his head spun as he fell to his knees. The others had already begun to leave, and even if they’d seen him, he doubted any of them other than Philza would help him. But the blond was being ushered out by Fundy. As he started to stand, a boot hit his back, sending him sprawling and he bit back a cry of pain. 

“You aren’t shit Wilbur, so don’t you dare try and challenge my top soldier ever again.” 

“But I -” He was cut off by Schlatt grabbing the back of his coat and hauling him to his feet, causing him to begrudgingly fall silent, “Yessir.” 

Schlatt’s face softened ever so slightly, “Good. Now walk.” 

He was released, and stumbled to get his feet back under him. A fresh dull pain throbbed in the back of his head, but he couldn’t do anything about it in the moment. He swallowed his anger for the time being as he trailed behind Schlatt, who kept glancing back to make sure he was following. 

“Perhaps after tonight you’ll learn your lesson.” His words were cold and unforgiving. 

In reality, in the present day he’d been thrashing in his sleep as he dreamt of the memory. He shot up in a cold sweat and disorientated. He began to panic as he opened his eyes and saw nothing, and tried to claw his way out of bed, phantom aches of pain long healed burned in the back of his head. A voice shook him back to reality, as well as gentle hands and two pairs of footsteps. 

“Wilbur! Wilbur snap out of it, it’s us, it’s me Tommy.” A hand gently shook his shoulder as the voice spoke from his left. 

Tubbo spoke from somewhere further away in the room with a yawn, “Will? Are you okay? We heard you fall out of bed.” 

Both boys seemed to be nearby, probably within an arm’s length, as he caught his breath, nodding. The memory stung still, even more painful now that he couldn’t see, for reasons more than just being blindfolded. His heart was still thundering against his ribs, but he was starting to take calming shaky breaths. 

“Wilbur what’s going on?” Tommy asked again from his side, and he focused on that, bringing fuzzy dim shapes back in. 

Right, humans can’t see in the dark anyways. 

Tubbo moved across his vision, and flicked on a bathroom light, as the pair helped him back to his feet, and he answered, “I. . I had a memory nightmare of sorts is all.” He sighed quietly, “I’m - I’m alright, just shook me up a bit.” 

He couldn’t see Tommy’s face, and was struggling to focus on Tubbo’s but he seemed skeptical, and sat on the other side of Wilbur, taking him out of Tommy’s immediate line of sight. Both still seemed concerned, but also knew not to push it either. Both pulled him into a gentle side hug, and Tommy sighed quietly, 

“You’re sure you’re okay?” 

He nodded slowly returning the awkward hug for a moment before pulling away slightly. “Yeah I’m fine, did I wake you two?” 

Tubbo chuckled a little, “Yeah, but it’s fine. . seriously man, I know you had a rough weekend from the little bit that Tommy has told me.” 

He smiled softly and nodded, “Yeah, we should all get some more sleep.” 

Tommy and Tubbo exchanged a glance as he let his vision recede again as he heard the bathroom light flick back off. The weight to his left lifted indicating Tommy got up as well after a minute, and he waved to the two of them, unsure exactly where they were. 

“Goodnight Tommy, goodnight Tubbo.” 

“Night Wilbur.” Tubbo answered as he left. 

“Goodnight Wilby.” 

He smiled a bit, laughing a little at the nickname, “Did you just call me Wilby?” 

Tommy was silent, and made offended Tommy noises for a minute, “No! No I did not.” 

“Awww Tommy it’s okay you can call me Wilby.” 

“I didn’t call you Wilby!” He retorted as he left, sounding embarrassed. 

“Well even if you didn’t it's fine if you do.” 

He got a quiet stammer as an answer before Tommy huffed and left, leaving him alone with his thoughts again. Slowly Wilbur laid back down, struggling to find the blanket in the now messy bed, and closed his eyes again. He would have to figure out something with classes, maybe he could start to learn braille or something. He’d also have to tell Tubbo about this if Tommy hadn’t already, but that was morning Wilbur’s problem. Right now he wanted to just go back to sleep, this time hopefully without terrible and painful memories. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest here, I've been sitting on this chapter for over a week, and I'm still pretty nervous, I think this is the only one in all of my books I've been genuinely afraid to post hah.


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